(Volker Arnold/Gabriele Layne)

New for Miniatures: Going Microscopic 

by Pam North

Gabriele Layne is a miniaturist who recently discovered the latest offerings of artist Volker Arnold, and a new world has been opened to her, one she offered to share with our readers. 
She described him in the following way: “Volker is a talented German artist who creates very intricate, artistic scrollsaw work, ranging from full-size Christmas decorations to miniatures. Since 2004, he has offered kits for houses, shops, windmills, toys, arches, animal pull-toys, and whole villages in various scales: 1:12, 1:100, 1:144, 1:288, 1:450 and 1:1000. Gaining in popularity, and another challenge for dollhouse enthusiasts and lovers of micro-miniatures, is the scale of 1:2000. Kits in this tiny scale contain wooden houses, walls, fencing, and animals that fit on a display area of no more than 0.8 inch. The authentic style for which Volker is known gives the miniature villages and cities a nostalgic touch. In groups, or as stand-alone highlights under glass domes or light arches, these minute objects open a new dimension of creating miniature landscapes. Volker has been reducing the sizes of his creations each year, and in 2018 will have a series of pieces, made of paper, in a scale of 1:4000. Since February 2017, the world’s smallest dollhouse for the dollhouse is available in the remarkable size of 0.1 inch. Because even the thinnest wood would be too thick for these small buildings, the kits are made of carton, executed with the precision of laser-cutting.”
Gabriele said that she had known Volker for many years, and that they had met again at a Chicago miniature show, where she placed an order for a variety of his miniature kits. “Having lived in the USA for 22 years, I did not realize how much he had progressed and expanded his variety of miniatures,” she marveled.
After her return from the show she began working on one of the kits, a medieval Tudor house in 1:144 scale. “It came together nicely,” she remarked, “the pieces were easy to remove from the base plate, and they fit together perfectly for assembly. Painting was easy, due to the framework showing on the wood. The instructions were included in the kit so that I could follow along; it is important to read these first. I added some landscaping, and filled the many flower boxes with flocking found in the hobby stores. The cuckoo clock was next, which was a little more difficult because of all of the tiny pieces that were placed on its front, including a fence and a balcony with a railing. Here I learned that it is best to paint the small pieces while still on the base plate, then pop them out and do touch-ups; otherwise, they can be held with tweezers and then painted.” 
Gabriele made the pieces because she was intrigued by their detail, and she enjoys the assembly of kits so she can put her own spin on them if she desires. “I have been working on a 1:12 scale toyshop, so many of these little miniatures will just look wonderful on its shelves.” 
Her favorite part about the pieces was that the assembly was quick, allowing her to get to the fun of the painting and decorating.”Painting was easy due to the framework showing on the wood. The instructions were included in the kit so that I could follow along, and as I stated before, read these first is important. I added some landscaping, and filled the many flower boxes with flocking found in the hobby stores.” Other materials used were: a cutting mat, wood glue, tweezers, a magnifying glass, paint or color markers.
Gabriele made several pieces from Volker’s kits, including: a medieval framework house in 1:144 scale; a cuckoo clock in 1:12 scale; a Christmas market stand in 1:144 scale; a fabric shop in 1:144 scale; a shop with drawers in 1:144 scale; and a windmill in 1:450 scale. “All the pieces were made from kits ordered from Volker,” Gabriele explained, “and all are available as kits, completed, or boxed as gifts, through the Volker Arnold website or by email. He also is on Facebook, and there is a link to his website to place orders. Orders (for kits only) may be placed in the United States through Gaby Layne, email: inderferne97@yahoo.com.

Volker  Arnold added his insight on the topic: “Almost every thinly-layered medium can be sawn: foam material, cork, paper, stencils, plastics, leather, fabric, felt, fleece, plaster, and even metal. We also successfully tested processing different materials together in one sandwich package. This is a rather simple process in which the materials are put between two plywood boards, and the pressed package can be drilled, polished or sawn. It is impressive that, with a simple scroll saw, several thousand meters of thinly layered material can be processed per hour. 
In the summer of 2005, I proceeded to go step-by-step to my crafting limit by sawing out miniature objects. Dollhouse enthusiasts readily accept pieces in a scale of 1:12. The previously offered 7 cm size arches were to be reduced to 5 cm. The decorative pieces were followed by even smaller miniatures down to 0.9 cm. A telephone call from a newspaper, that was searching for interesting articles to publish, resulted in headlines that read: ‘A man from Dresden is building the smallest arches of the world’, and ‘Saxonian has built the smallest arch’.”
“Visions somehow can come true. Within a year, up unto the summer of 2006, a broad spectrum of dollhouse toys in the scales of 1:12 and 1:144 were created. At miniature shows and dollhouse club meetings, the wishes of many miniature art hobbyists were heard and then created. A great fulfillment lies in the creation of tiny miniatures made from 0.4 mm wood cutouts, such as complete dollhouse furnishings for rooms in 1:144 inch scale. Many viewers were astonished to find 1 mm wooden eating utensils when they opened a small drawer of a 1cm table. The dolls of the houses now have more toys with which to play! Soon the interest in these creations awoke a great interest at fairs in Germany, Holland, Great Britain, Spain, and the USA.” 
“Many of our furnishings hide small surprises, such as items in little drawers, clothes hangers in the closet, etc., and the smaller the better. Since the summer of 2007, the viewers are amazed by the new boundaries that have been reached.”
The world of miniatures seems to grow exponentially as technology advances, and the prospects are tantalizing!
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Contact Information:
Name: Volker Arnold
Business: VA-Holzkunst
Email: info@va-holzkunst.de
Phone: 011-49-351-2813602 Germany
Website: www.vaholzkunst.de
Address: Klingenberger Str. 6, 01187 Dresden, Germany

Gabriele Layne
8414 Greenham Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78239
Email:inderferne97@yahoo.de