Today I will be introducing you to Marsha of Enchanticals (if you don’t already know her, she’s a delight!). I first ‘met’ Marsha on Etsy through Team MIDS (miniatures in dollhouse scales) and I also follow her work on flickr. She frequently submits her enchanting pieces (hence the shop name) in both my Spooky Dollhouse and Fantasy Miniature flickr groups. She was kind enough to answer a few questions about herself and her creative process.Below is my favorite magical cabinet she has made so far. I love the tarot paper on the backboard!
Her shop: http://www.enchanticals.etsy.com/
Her blog: http://www.http//enchanticals.blogspot.com/
-Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a miniaturist, artist, writer, and poet. I am/was gifted with both a sense of wonder and curiosity, as well as a rich imagination that knows no bounds. My late parents encouraged and instilled in my sister and me a desire to learn all that we could from all sources available….the written, visual, spoke; to seek; to question; to think broadly and out of the box; to learn other cultures, customs, and make friends of every culture and creed; to create; be ourselves; think for ourselves, and, most of all, to imagine. For from imagination with action added to it for fuel, one can create boundlessly.
Here is one of Marsha's assemblage spell bottles:
My personality is a bit like yin and yang. I love nature, sunlight, sunny days, animals, flowers, meadows, butterflies (my Sacred Power Animal), and colors. But, my yin, so to speak, side, loves the night, the moon, grey overcast skies, rain, barren trees, melancholy, cold winds blowing, emptiness, fog, and mist. This yin yang personality of mine enhances what I create. When I am in a Yang mode, I create fairy, elemental, and the like creations and when Yin, I love to make spooky, dark, vampires, and etc.Below are some of her nature inspired items.
-Please discuss your creative process.As an artist, I create in various mediums. However, my preference and specialty are predominantly in 1:12th or miniature dollhouse scale…miniature items, but especially furniture, altered and/or made by me. I furnish them completely with one-of-a-kind, handmade, detailed, and realistic looking items made from nature and found objects.
There is no assembly line in my workshop. No elves either. For this reason, each piece is truly one-of a-kind. I keep no written “recipes” for the colors I use nor written instructions for any of the items I create. Each piece is from or includes nature or is created out of found objects I have available at the time. Thus, none of my finished pieces can be duplicated.
For each individual creation, I specifically write an original story entitled, “A Little Tale”. My little tales are fables, some with a moral, which either recount the personal life history of the previous “owner” of the piece of furniture or the origin, history or mystery surrounding the miniature item I created. My little tales are a way for me to bring my creations to life for the audience and also to draw them into and become part of, not only the items created, but also my enchanted little world. (Grim loves these little stories!)
Enchanticals is known for beautiful glass tipped wands, crystal balls, and potion bottles:
-How did you first become interested in miniatures?I do not remember a time when I was not head over heels in love with miniatures and dolls. My late Mother loved and collected miniatures and, perhaps, this became imprinted on me.
Each creation is based upon a central theme or character and each altered found object created for that piece supports the main theme.
-What themes do you work in regularly?
My themes and characters for my creations run the gamut…from enchanted to fantasy to whimsy to fairytale to wizard to horror/spooky to realism. These themes do not have a season or Holiday associated with them; I create them year round. For example, spooky…Spooky is not just for Halloween, but rather exists in my enchanted world the entire year.
A spookier gray hutch:
-How do you define ‘spooky’? Do you make spooky or fantasy miniatures year round or just seasonally?Speaking of “spooky”…my spooky creations are scary, sometimes a bit ghoulish, and may give you a bit of a chill. But, they are always infused with a dab and a dash of whimsy. My spooky is devoid of evil, harm, cruelty, repulsiveness, and hate to and for others. Spooky, to me, is fun fantasy.
Here are a few of her more chilling works:
-Do you have a dollhouse of your own and what do you like to collect?Grim asked me to tell you about my dollhouse. Well, after three years I can finally talk about it and am ready, anxious, really, to finally buy a new one. Three years ago, when I was moving, I firmly decided that “I” was going to move my just completed, not yet furnished, dollhouse or rather French model’s atelier. I didn’t want the movers to damage it. Well, the oddest thing happened. I had the atelier firmly and tightly in my hands as I was walking to my car. All of a sudden, as if the element of wind decided to create a huge gust of wind (There was no wind.), my dollhouse flew out of my hands, went up in the air about 10’, and came crashing down on my pebble tek driveway. It shattered into a million tiny pieces. Nothing was left. I simply stood there and looked at it. (Grim throw hands up in horror and hides her face in misery) It was decorated with French blue and dove grey walls with white molding and molding embellishments, real wooden floors, a fireplace, glass windows, and tile. But, now I have three sketches ready for my new dollhouse and cannot wait to buy a new one and begin.
Marsha J. West
Links Marsha wishes to share:
http://www.hilarosenberg.com/
http://www.ravenrocksstudio.com/Home.html
http://www.alicemagazine.co.uk/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AFancifulTwist
http://www.griselda.com/
I would just like to thank Marsha for sharing her time and creativity with us!
