Janet Stoffel – The Rusty Rooster Gift Shoppe

Crazy About Chickens

by Pam North

Janet Stoffel likes chickens. “I have live chickens, and I also have had collections of miniature chickens, so I decided to make a 1:12 scale gift shop.” She entered the completed project in the 2016 Creatin' Contest, and her efforts won her a First Time Entry 3.
The Belgrade, Montana resident makes handcrafted dollhouse miniatures, furniture, and home decorations created from her own designs reflecting distressed shabby chic and country styles. Inspiration comes from items she remembers from visits to her grandmother’s farm home, and from antiques she sees in shops and magazines. She sells her crafts through her Etsy shop, named MinisbyJan.
The main structure of the piece was the basic kit for the contest (one room with porch), purchased from Hobby Builders Supply, who sponsored the annual event. Janet explained some of the process she went through in transforming the kit into her own unique visualization. “Most of the piece was handmade by me, with some components that I bought or collected. I crafted the furniture, the chicken coop, the chicken run, some of the decorations, and also the tiny mouse under the coop door. Some of the little
chickens I have had for some time, and others were purchased specifically for this project.” Other materials used were basic and inexpensive: wood, clay, and a towel painted green for the grass. “I got the idea for the grass off Pinterest, and the ‘corrugated metal’ is actually corrugated cardboard,” she elaborated. A generous helping of imagination was the magic ingredient, and the piece radiated a charming country ambience.
One of the most difficult things about creating her project was the fact that there are no miniature stores within 120 miles of where she lives. Also, small chicken items of 1:12 scale were hard to find. She managed, in spite of these problems, to complete the piece, saying, “It got as close to being what I had envisioned as the amount of time and money I had available allowed.” Asked  what her favorite aspects about the piece were, she answered, “I love the way the chicken run turned out, and the little mouse under the coop door. Just the whole project in general was fun to put together.”
While she has not ruled out the possibility of selling the piece, she has no immediate plans to do so, and for now will just enjoy displaying it.