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Scale Miniatures

Handmade in 1:12 scale

Miniatures have been a passion of mine since I was a kid. You can follow my work on Instagram @craiglabenzminiatures. Or on my Facebook page, Craig Labenz Miniatures. I’m planning to start selling limited editions of my work soon and I’m considering taking commissions. Stay tuned.

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Craig Labenz holding his handmade 1/12th scale electric chandelier
Craig Labenz playing with his handcrafted 1:12th scale croquet set.
1:12th scale miniature croquet set by Craig Labenz

Here’s a look at what I’ve been up to on Instagram:

craiglabenzminiatures

Miniature Artist. IGMA Artisan. In real life, I also build websites @craiglabenzdesign.

Craig Labenz
I’ve painted several coats of thin, black @benja I’ve painted several coats of thin, black @benjaminmoore paint and a whole bunch of very thin gold pinstripes on my 1:12th scale Falmouth chair. My original plan was to carefully tape off all of the pinstripes. But ugh, what a job that turned out to be! I quickly figured out that it was faster and cleaner to paint most of the pinstripes by hand. The woven seat is attached here but it’s masked off to protect it during the painting process.
One of my other submissions for Artisan membership One of my other submissions for Artisan membership in the International Guild of Miniature Artisans was a 1/12th scale replica of an 18th century black-painted, cherry Connecticut dressing table. It’s based on a full-scale piece that I found on the Skinner auction website. The original must’ve been pretty special because it sold for $17,220! When I’m figuring out how to make a new piece, I almost always start with hand-drawn elevations. It’s rare that I get to see original furniture from this period in person so I rely on photos and sometimes dubious auction house measurements. I think that drawing a piece gives me a good sense of the “feel” of the original — of the scale and proportion and of the harmony of line. But after that, I usually create digital elevations with very precise measurements down to the thousandth of an inch. When I’m making something, I measure almost everything with a digital caliper, and even though I’m a pretty good draftsman, a pencil drawing really isn’t exact enough for 1:12th scale. At least my drawings aren’t.
Testing the fit of the carved back splat pieces in Testing the fit of the carved back splat pieces in my 1:12th scale Falmouth chair. When I’m making something new, I really procrastinate the gluing stage. I put it off as long as possible because it’s hard to go backwards when something is glued. (But it’s not impossible if you’re using the right glue). The Falmouth chair was one of my submissions for Artisan membership in the International Guild of Miniature Artisans this year. The chair is made from Swiss pear wood. The back splat is a little darker because it was cut from a different board. But it’s also darker from my finger oil. How’s that for really “putting yourself” into you work? Hah! In the end, it will all be painted so I’m not worried about the color difference.
Carefully slice, slice, slicing away at these litt Carefully slice, slice, slicing away at these little columns that are part of the back splat sections of my 1/12th scale Falmouth chair. These are made of Swiss pear wood using a combination of table saw cuts, milling, hand carving, filing and sanding. Each back splat has a center urn that’s flanked by columns and is slightly dimensional. The original full-size chairs that I’m basing these on were made, I believe, in about 1793 by John Seymour and John Seymour Jr. in Falmouth, Maine and I’m sure they were influenced by the Etruscan style that was becoming fashionable in England at the time. Each surviving example of this chair that I’ve found in various museums and auction houses has slightly different splats. Knowing how exacting the Seymour’s were, I assume that some of these splats are different because they were later replaced because of breakage — and not because of inconsistency. But who knows? I’ve read that these types of delicate federal chairs were particularly vulnerable to breakage. I believe it! Luckily, I haven’t broken any yet in 1/12th scale.
The back splat sections of my 1/12th scale Falmout The back splat sections of my 1/12th scale Falmouth chair are made of Swiss pear wood using a combination of table saw cuts, milling, hand carving, filing and sanding. Each back splat has a center urn that’s flanked by columns and is slightly dimensional. The original full-size chairs that I’m basing these on were made, I believe, in about 1793 by John Seymour and John Seymour Jr. in Falmouth, Maine and I’m sure they were influenced by the Etruscan style that was becoming fashionable in England at the time. Each surviving example of this chair that I’ve found in various museums and auction houses has slightly different splats. Knowing how exacting the Seymour’s were, I assume that some of these splats are different because they were later replaced because of breakage — and not because of inconsistency. But who knows? I’ve read that these types of delicate federal chairs were particularly vulnerable to breakage. I believe it! Luckily, I haven’t broken any yet in 1/12th scale. (Pro-tip: make extras of everything. Everything. Just *in case* something breaks…)
I’m really excited to be featured in the current I’m really excited to be featured in the current issue of Dollhouse Miniatures Magazine (issue 83). @genuinejoan wrote such a sweet article about how I got started in miniatures at a young age. I’ve been reading this magazine since it’s earlier incarnation as “Nutshell News” when I was a kid, so this is really a thrill. You can purchase single print or digital issues through @dhminiatures. There’s also a link in my bio.
I’ve been working on weaving a 1/12th scale mini I’ve been working on weaving a 1/12th scale miniature “cane” seat out of thread for my circa 1793 John Seymour “Falmouth” chair. Figuring out the best way to do this technique occupied a few weeks earlier in the summer. And there were lots of things to figure out… thread type, needle size, hole size and spacing. And how to keep the thread from getting knots! (Still a problem…) I ended up using two colors of DMC cotton thread to give the weaving a little more dimension and, spoiler alert, the chair’s base color is black — so the seat surface has to be painted before the weaving. The weight of the thread is also critical because in a few places, as many as 10 lengths of thread go through a single hole. The seat itself is about a scale 1/2” thick with mortise and tenon joinery at the corners. That’s pretty thin for those joints, and an earlier prototype broke at the corners from the thread tension. So I increased the depth of the mortises and made a frame to hold the seat firmly in place while weaving. So far so good. Fingers crossed.
This little chair has consumed much of my summer — or more accurately, a series of chair prototypes. I’ve made six, but in the end I only need one. At first glance, it’s a simple form — but it’s actually incredibly complex: there are only a few 90 degree angles. The rest are a series of interrelated compound angles. So far, I’ve made around 125 bits and pieces to construct this chair (sliding tables, cutting jigs, guides, wedges) along with 30 pages of construction notes. Ahead are a carved back splat, woven cane seat, and some pretty elaborate painting. The original chair is attributed to John Seymour, an English cabinet maker who came to America in the late 18th century — first settling in Falmouth (now Portland), Maine and then moving to Boston where he and his son, Thomas, rose to prominence. But the painting on the chair is attributed to John Seymour Jr., another apprentice son. John Jr. died in 1793 so that dates the chair right around that time. Another occupation of mine for the past few weeks has been foraging for blackberries at Magnuson Park in Seattle on my morning walks.
I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiat I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiatures as part of his “Meet the Miniaturist” series! If you want to a learn more about my work and how I got started making miniatures — and get a peek behind the scenes in my workshop — you can the watch replay of the interview on YouTube. You can find the link in my bio.
I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiat I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiatures as part of his “Meet the Miniaturist” series! If you want to a learn more about my work and how I got started making miniatures — and get a peek behind the scenes in my workshop — you can the watch replay of the interview on YouTube. You can find the link in my bio.
I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiat I had such a good time talking with @dthomasminiatures as part of his “Meet the Miniaturist” series! If you want to a learn more about my work and how I got started making miniatures — and get a peek behind the scenes in my workshop — you can the watch replay of the interview on YouTube. You can find the link in my bio.
In this video, you can see that I designed my 1/12 In this video, you can see that I designed my 1/12th scale, 18th century kitchen room box to be ‘modular’ — so the interior of the room could be swapped out in the future. The window, exterior door, ceiling, lighting and the inner room itself are all removable from the exterior box. A really nice bonus of this is that it gives me easier access to hard to reach corners — especially the wiring, which is a little complicated. I’ve got the lights wired on a three channel remote control. One channel for the chandelier, sconces and candlesticks, one channel for the 🔥 and one channel that turns on 28 tiny pico LEDs that are hidden between the ceiling beams. And... those pico LEDs are also on a separate dimmer to control the ambient overhead lighting.
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(206) 427-1586 | craig@craiglabenz.com

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