(Colette Cameron – Craft Room in Miniature)

Creatively Crafty

by Pam North

The craft room of every hobbyist’s dreams, where every type, color, and size of materials lie waiting in perfect order – what more could one ask? There is one wrinkle, however; that hobbyist must be very small, as that quintessential craft room happens to be in miniature. The Australian artist is Colette Cameron, whose creations are marvelously intricate little worlds worth studying and appreciating, and she’s a master at gathering together the hundreds (often thousands in her larger and more ambitious works) of tiny items that complete her visions. She builds and decorates larger-scale buildings as well as room boxes, and also enjoys creating tiny furniture.
Colette is quite modest in self-assessment, saying that she is a housewife with miniatures as her hobby, and she credits part of her success to her spouse, who taught her how to use his power tools (now there’s a perfect man!). “I love my power tools with a passion,” she said, and my hubby has spent years accumulating every tool and implement I could possibly want or need.” 
A more accurate description of Colette would describe her as an artist with challenging goals and meticulous attention to detail. Her latest piece, Craft Room in Miniature, reflects those qualities, and the entire project was hand-built, decorated, and made by her, with all items created from scratch, or altered and changed to suit. She said she made it as a tribute to crafting, explaining further, “I have a huge respect for everyone with creative leanings, and I’m fascinated by the process that artists go through when creating. The Craft Room in Miniature for me is a reflection of a space geared toward creative endeavors, and I wanted to do a room that was reflective of that interest. I designed and built the space to contain what I personally would want in a craft room. A large desk for me to work on was part of that, and I also included a smaller desk area for children – a hint to my daughters that I am patiently waiting for grandchildren!”
The materials she used for this project are those usually incorporated into her work. The furniture and room box were built from MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) that she cut using a drop saw (her favorite tool). All the windows are glass, and the Craft Room also has a full lighting system, using fairy lights, which are inexpensive and battery-powered, and cast a soft light. “I always have been drawn to soft lighting, as I like the effect of shadows. I utilize as many recycled items as I can, and for this particular piece beads became essential.” Her favorite part about the piece was all the shelves filled to the brim with craft products, for which she used pill packets to create a full look throughout. She also had fun creating the stand, adorned with hanging sticker pads, at the far left of the window. “Every item on the hanging rack is individual, and I really enjoyed working on this piece – it amused me!”
Colette makes no pretense of having any training or experience, proclaiming, “I just get an idea in my head and build it. I love the reflection of everyday life that they portray, and miniatures are so cute and fun!”
The collecting instinct is an advantage to her in her miniature-making. “I like to hoard everything, so I have a ready supply of beads, plastics, pill containers, fabrics, paper, etc. Anything that has color is kept, and I particularly am fond of fake plants that I can re-purpose and paint to suit whatever color themes I am using.” Work on the Craft Room moved along steadily, taking around five weeks for completion, as it was a basically simple structure, but one aspect of it demanded much time and effort. “The hardest part in making this project was the hanging mobiles, which were the most time-consuming, primarily  because of the fiddly and tiny pieces that were attached to the hanging strands.”
While Colette has no current plans to sell her piece, she entertains the hope that one day she might be able to make a living out of creating miniatures, although she says that she is not willing to hold her breath on that. Meanwhile, new ideas continue to inspire her, and committing to a project tends to occur out of the blue. “Right now I am working on a Priceline Pharmacy, as well as renovating a cottage for a 7-year old girl. I’m currently doing the pharmacy as a break, but the next project is going to be a grocery store. I want to push my boundaries and have 50,000 individual items in it.”

Contact Information:
Name:  Colette Cameron
Email:  colettecameron@bigpond.com
Phone:  (02) 6884 9950
Address:  3 Pamela Place Dubbo, NSW, Australia 2830