Reviewed
The Complete Doll's House Book
by Jean Nisbett Reisl Lackinger
Staff Writer
The Complete Dolls' House Book by Jean Nisbett is an older book, published in 1993, but timeless. It is a miniature crafters' dream that's brimming with information to give your doll house an authentic look, including themes for the house and how to build your dream doll's house. The book can be found on Amazon for US$39.00 new and surprisingly, only US$0.75 used.
This is a fabulous book to add to the miniaturist's library. I would recommend everyone add it if for no other reason than the amazing used price of $.75. Every single page is loaded with color photographs plus the author gives tips and advice on what tools to use and how, building techniques and how to give an authentic look for several different time periods and themes.
The book is divided into four parts. In part one, the reader is introduced to the doll's house, style decisions and, of course, dolls. What doll house is complete without the family? The only fault I found with the dolls section is that the information on doll families is rather limited. I would have personally preferred to read a bit more regarding doll artists and costuming the dolls. My favorite part of this section is the brief histories. Not only does she give the history of a dolls' house, but also common practices of households for periods that are popular to recreate in the miniaturist community today.
The second part is all about giving the house an authentic look, including Tudor, Georgian, and Victorian periods along with several others. This entire section of the book is very informative regarding accurate period details.
Part three goes over giving your dollhouse a theme, such as a country cottage look or building a shop. My favorite theme is the shop. An inventive miniaturist may take the inspiration beyond what's featured in the book to turn it into a bakery, a garden shop, candy shop or even an all-out cake shop (see February's edition of The Miniature Way book review for a scrumptious cake book). Imagine a shop filled with decadent, colorful cakes of every size and shape. The possibilities are endless.
The practical part four is what we all need, but not as exciting as the inspiration, themes and style of creating. It's exactly as stated. Nisbett goes over tools and their uses, building the house, lighting, decoration and many other practical tips for creating the dolls' house of your dreams.
A nice little bonus at the end is additional information. There are suggestions for further reading, suppliers, magazines, and a metric conversion table. How many times have we had to Google how to convert measurements? Maybe that's just me, but so useful. Remember though, the book was published in 1993 so many of the suppliers and tool information will be a bit dated. An internet search will probably pull up the suppliers that are still in business providing a website address.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, although there was one thing lacking. I really am more of a "tell me how to do it" type person versus just looking at a finished product and being informed of what they did or why they did it. That's just my personal preferences. But, for 75¢US you receive pages of eye candy, inspiration and factual history of a period you may be trying to recreate. It's a classically great book and I highly recommend it.
Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM