All dollhouses can be more than a series of lovely rooms; they can be storytelling vehicles that convey scenes through the use of accessories and settings. An extra power can be achieved when the dolls’ house maker goes beyond decorating a room to using it to tell a story, inviting the viewer to fill in what might have happened there. A teacup abandoned on a windowsill, a book left open on a chair, or a suitcase partially filled in a hallway can speak volumes about what might have taken place. Storytelling takes the craft beyond a purely technical pursuit and makes it a more intimate creative act.
If you have a theme or time period in mind, start with that, because the rest is easy to decide. Perhaps you are in the mood for a romantic cottage setting from the 1930s on a drizzly day, or perhaps you prefer the atmosphere of a contemporary loft filled with artistic innovation. Any styling choice, from furniture to colors to lighting, is determined in relation to your theme. For example, if your theme is an artist’s studio, it would be a good idea to include brushes and some works in progress to depict an active muse. A bedroom theme may only have one drawer pulled out with a stack of folded clothes and a single flower on the dresser to indicate what a gentle night might await. Having these details present allows the viewer to fill in the rest of the story for themselves, creating a more interactive experience by imagining their own words to the characters and their histories.
While building your scene, you may discover how additional details can add to your narrative. Initially, you might focus on larger pieces, such as the purpose of the room or the overall atmosphere you want to convey. But you might also find that a few tiny objects or toys placed around the room can evoke a sense of “action.” For instance, a child’s toy on the floor tells us that the space was being played in recently. A letter underneath a pillow might imply some kind of clandestine activity. An assortment of mismatched dishes in a dining room might lead us to believe that guests were present at short notice. The most important thing to remember is to let these details come to you as you build your scene. Some folks may even like to take photos of their scenes from various angles to help inspire even more ideas! Photographing a breakfast table set in the morning, with the warm sun shining in, can be just as evocative as photographing the shadows of a library in the evening.
When these story dolls are posted for everyone to see, members of the community will sometimes comment on them with ideas about how the story should continue, or traits of the character that the builder hadn’t thought of. This, too, can lead to further build iterations, or even new projects based on the ideas that have been given to the builders. Once builders get into the practice of thinking in story, it can even help them look for ideas in their everyday life, like how a rainy day could lead to a build about a lonely attic, or how an antique object could be the start of a multi-generational story built into a four-inch square.
Ultimately, the embedding of tales within miniaturist worlds enriches the building process from a purely visual or skill-based hobby to a contemplative act of compassion and creativity, one in which the finished piece reflects a sliver of its creator’s soul. The figures may be mute, but, through judicious selection of accessories, they are alive in the imaginations of all who inspect them. This ability to imply, to hint at, makes the creation of dollhouses a continuously fascinating art, small in stature but often enormous in its evocation of the human experience.