Welcome! The new Miniaturist Spotlight will focus on one or more notable miniaturists and their work. We hope you enjoy getting to know them and learning more about their fascinating miniature creations. Please let us - and them - know how you liked this new feature. New features will be added on an occasional basis. Thanks for visiting! - Christine Verstraete

Featured Miniaturist 1:

Gaytha Heighes - Gaytha's Greenhouse Goodies, Canada

Gaytha readily admits to a lifelong love affair with all things small. Like many other miniaturists, her interest was fueled by a childhood dollhouse that was soon pushed aside with the advent of adult responsibilities. With retirement, Gaytha says she finally found time to return to miniatures and is happily making up for lost time.

Once she began making her own 1" scale furniture and accessories, Gaytha found herself drawn to miniature plants and garden items. "My favorite 'littles' to make are garden furniture & accessories, especially pots and plants, " she says. "Each leaf in every one of my plants is lovingly, and individually, cut and painted. Each one is unique."

In fact, Gaytha realized she enjoyed making plants so much that she started her own website business, Gaytha's Greenhouse Goodies. Her decorated pots are $3-$16; benches and potted plants are $8-$34. Kits are also in the works.

While Gaytha enjoys creating her miniatures and is happy they're well received, she admits there is one unexpected "benefit" to her latest venture. "My husband calls me a 'packrat,'" she says. "I collect everything, especially if it is little. I've got friends saving all sorts of stuff for me, and I never throw anything away without looking at it carefully to see if I can make something new out of it."

Gaytha? As you know by now, you are not alone.   (Photos: Top, Bonsai; Left to right, Diffenbachia, Leaf Palm) #

Featured Miniaturist 2:

Johanna Andersson, Finland

Mothers of young children can understand Johanna Andersson's reason for becoming interested in miniatures and dollhouses.

"I was home with two children and needed something to do that was only for me," she explains. "I started when they had their midday naps..."

Jo, who lives in the south of Finland about 70 km. east of Helsinki, did have a dollhouse as a child, but "rediscovered" miniatures when she bought her own dollhouse as an adult.

"I've always done small things for friends and family, but started 'for real' about two years ago when I bought my dolls house," she says. As a child, "I decided I was going to get a house with real stairs in at some point," but she admits," I'm not there yet! Maybe my next house will have stairs."

While miniatures have become more available since Jo began collecting in 2002, unfortunately she says living in the "outback" limits her in-person involvement with other miniaturists. Instead, she has found great camaraderie and inspiration from magazines and especially by being involved with several online dollhouse groups including the dollshouse society in Sweden, two Finnish groups, and the English-speaking miniatures groups with Yahoo Groups.

"Miniatures have just recently started to poke their way into the main streets and some new importing companies have started here, so the miniatures business is growing," she says. "At the time when I started I didn't even have any idea of how much there is. Now after all this time, with the help of Internet groups, magazines etc. I can easily call myself a 'real know it all' when it comes to miniatures, " she jokes.

Jo's favorite discovery? She loves working with Fimo polymer clay. "I really like to make things myself," she says. "I am willing to try just about anything."

Her latest "fancy," as she calls it, is making dolls and "things you can't get in the shops. I even wrote a story of my first dolls that I ever made for my house (for the Finnish society's magazine)," she says. "Now looking back at those dolls, they are horrible, but I love them dearly."

One of Jo's most challenging and meaningful projects was creating a traditional Christmas dinner in miniature. As part of the small six percent of the Swedish population in Finland, Jo says her usual Christmas dinner is a little bit different. And just like in real life, her miniature dinner is geared more towards family favorites than strict "tradition."

"I must say that this is just one variation of a Finnish-Swedish Christmas dinner; the sort we have in my family," she explains. "Some people here in Finland also eat a fish dish made of dried and cooked fish that I and my husband hate! We don't eat it in our house, that's why we have smoked salmon and some Finnish-Swedes eat meatballs. There are just as many different variations as there are eaters."

And just like in real life, Jo's miniature version of her favorite dinner is enough to make your stomach gurgle with hunger.

(Photos: Traditional Christmas dinner; original doll ,"Lady Annabelle Hawthorne" of polymer clay; masquerade mask of Fimo clay and feathers made as part of a group project with the Swedish Yahoo group, Dockskåp. See more at her blog.#

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