Country Charm Meets Past Primitives  -  Denise Morales

by Pam North

Inspiration begins in all kinds of places. Tiny Liddle Kiddles dolls were the starting point for Denise Morales' she played with them back in her early elementary school years. Her passion for enjoying and collecting small things grew through the years, but it was only after she completed her graduate school commitments in her early twenties that she was able to pursue her hobby with less distractions. She presently is a home-school mother of four children, with the two oldest now attending college, and she also works one day a week in her private practice as a social worker, offering individual and family counseling. Balancing the demands of her life takes some skill. “Sometimes interruptions can be frustrating to the trance-like state I achieve in my perfectly-controlled miniature world, but tending to the needs of my family also is important and needs to be done.” she commented.
Her first finished miniature project was a green-beaded Christmas tree enclosed inside a glass dome, a popular kit which was sold at Michael’s craft stores in the 1980s. “Room boxes now are my specialty,” she explained. “I create them in different themes, and concentrate on making the miniature accessories to fill them. I consider my room boxes as multi-media collages, and three-dimensional paintings using miniatures. I  have made twenty room boxes since 2008, and I have parted with only one, a 1:24 scale Christmas living room scene, that was a gift for my mother. I've made boxes for each of my four children, which they will take with them when they move to their own homes. With each box I complete, I like to challenge myself with using new products in different ways, and trying new techniques. Consequently, I try to take lots of classes, both in person and on-line, as well as buying and making lots of kits.  I also love using a wide variety of media in my work. I always find more tools and supplies to collect and experiment with, so I never have enough storage space for all the stuff that I have accumulated through the years!”
The name of the piece highlighted herein is A Room with a “Primitive” View. A fellow club member once made each of the group porcelain Hitty-like dolls in two sizes, prompting her club to do a Hitty doll vignette. Privately, Morales was not particularly enthusiastic about this idea because she had just finished a large doll box, and she wanted to create something with a different focus. Instead of voicing her reluctance, however, she decided to do some research on the original history of the reproduced little dolls. She discovered the children's novel, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, written in 1929, describing the adventures of a 19th century American hand-carved doll, and she was intrigued, visualizing a room box with pioneer and primitive decor. Pursuing the idea, and wishing to incorporate folk art miniatures into the project, she made many of the miniatures herself, and also used  pieces that had been purchased at shows back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Other artists whose work was included in this piece were: Butte Hinge Pottery, Jane Graber, Cindy Mallon, Mary Hoot, Lyn Latimer, David Krupick, and Olde Mountain Miniatures. Materials used included: fabric, leather, chalk paints, wood, paper, trims, bunka, ultra-fast epoxy cement, epoxy wood putty, alcohol inks, air dry clay, and bingo token pieces. 
She used various techniques  in creating the piece. The tiny wooden dolls sitting on the upholstered chair were molded with epoxy wood putty. “hooked” rug wall hangings of the bunny and sheep on the left and back walls were made with snippets of bunka (rayon thread, that easily ravels with a consistent curl), which were glued onto a paper pattern. She used alcohol inks to give a stained, aged look to the pewter and porcelain mini-plates and copper pot. A wispy, woolly texture was given to the HO-scale plastic sheep, displayed on the half-round table, by gluing snippets of bunka onto the bodies, and then brushing a tiny amount of water onto the bunka so that its fine fibers were released. “Making the rustic-textured left and right side walls were super easy to make using just three products: bumpy brick wall sheets, Ranger Matte Texture Paste and chalk paint, she explained. What she found most fun was finding new products on the market and experimenting with them to create the effects she was seeking. The charmingly cluttered room vignette evokes coziness and warmth, and was completed in November 2016. Morales plans on keeping the piece, saying “Making miniatures is my hobby, and I don’t make miniatures to sell.” The vignette evokes such sweet charm, reminiscent of a simpler time. Perhaps a similarly themed project could be undertaken by other miniature collectors as a personal project or as a Mother's day gift.
Inspiration for her now comes from looking at photos of romantic-style homes and shops, found in magazines and on Pinterest. She belongs to two groups that meet in the Houston TX area, and says those meetings are “cannot miss” events on her monthly calendar. 
She constantly is looking for what will come next. “I currently am working on a doll shop, then maybe a peddler’s shop next, but those ideas can be subject to change as some other inspirational idea takes hold and sways the course. I  have seven 'to do' boxes filled with things already collected for scenes that need to be realized. I need to take a short break from doing miniatures, however, as I am in the process of remodeling and redecorating my real house.  I won't stay away too long, because my soul becomes antsy and unfulfilled when I am not creating tiny things!”