Tucson, AZ - Honey, I Shrunk the House

Look closely at all the details in this room: the gold chandelier, the high-boy on the side, the books on the floor, the hands of the clock. And, the stitching in the rug. This is not a real historical home that we visited, it is a miniature room that would fit inside the proverbial breadbox. That telescope, probably not much bigger than a toothpick. Absolutely amazing.

It’s only natural that a person who lives in an RV should be interested in small homes. But I do remember borrowing a book from our local library years ago by Sarah Susanka who wrote a book about small homes. Cool use of space and oh, so efficient. A place for everything and everything in its place. Who needs all that space? Just more to dust. So, today we headed on over to the Mini Time Machine, a museum dedicated to miniatures. No, not small doll houses, but miniatures. Big difference. It’s all about the authenticity, the attention to detail, the precision. This is not about old doll houses in the attic.

You can open these books and read them. You could probably play pool but watch how hard you hit the cue ball.

Here is a bunch of tiny violins inside a miniature violin. Those tiny violins are smaller than my thumb.

I think that Gary’s seen the ice cream parlor inside this miniature store.

Not many calories in these cones.

It began many years ago in ? when Patricia Arnell got her first miniature. Intrigued, she increased her collection over the years and also began to design and make her own. Then, when she and her husband, Walter, moved to Tucson, they became avid collectors displaying them in their home to those with appointments. They they decided to open their collection up to the public and, 2 years later, this museum was opened. Come early in the morning and bring a lunch, you might be surprised how intrigued you are and how many miniatures there are displayed here. Over 300 and you’ll want to see the details of each. Oh, yeah, take them up on their offer of a flashlight.

We arrived on a Thursday when everyone gets in at the children’s price. Cool. We didn’t check out a flashlight but we should have - it would have made it so much easier to see the details. We wandered a bit then joined the 1:00 tour. This began with a 2-screen description. It began on the left screen where a professorial type in tweed suit explained the museum. Then he is whisked by a fairy in sparkling lights to the right screen where he becomes a magical to explain it more. (Got this? Probably not, I’m not describing this very well but it is a neat trick of photography. )

There are 3 sections to the museum but first you need to walk through this room with perfect acoustics which echoes all around, shooting stars crossing the sky and several displays about how miniatures are made. Magical entrance.

The first section you walk through is the ‘History and Antiques’ files with some of the oldest miniatures in the collection, even back to 1742. We really liked the story of the history of miniatures. In the beginning, they were only for the very wealthy but we liked the line-up of these mass-produced miniatures developed by savvy entrepreneurs who realized that everyone would buy them if they lowered the price. In this room you can see how craftsmanship and technique have changed over time. These are early examples of commercial miniatures that a family could put together.

Very small, very simple but an industry was born.
And, here’s a more recently made one. Those look like real pearls. And, check out the buttons on the tiny gloves.

The second section is the ‘Exploring the World’ section with miniatures from Germany, France, the UK, Thailand, Japan, Holland, Spain and other countries.

Miniatures are not just made of homes. The artists take ordinary things and put miniatures in them. Here is a miniature setting inside a common coffee pot.

Another inside a straw bonnet.

Here is a collection of miniature shoes. The artist even put scuff marks and wear creases in them to make them look worn. These are each about 2” long. And, yes, that is a shoe disguised as a wolf.

I always wanted a Frank Lloyd Wright style home but not this small.

And, finally is the Enchanted Realm, with witches, entire Christmas villages under the floor, fairy worlds with toadstools and leaf hammocks and. Kids will love this gallery and so will the kid in all of us.

Throughout the museum are small screens where you can watch documentaries on various topics.
But in the end it is the extraordinary talent it takes to make such intricate, detailed miniatures that shines. Exhibit creators have to be artists, architects, interior designers, historians carpenters, costume designers and have a terrific imagination to be able to bring their vision to all of us. I was surprised to learn that there are those who specialize: some make only flowers, some make only furniture, some make only people. Most make the whole miniature.

We thoroughly enjoyed this museum and will be back sometime in the future. There is so much more to see. Here’s a sampling.





A sense of humor pervades the museum. Note the fox hiding behind the hen house here.

You can even buy some miniatures for your creations here at the museum.

For your desert Southwest motif.

Look at the cloth here. I read that most miniaturists uses special thread for their clothing, curtains, upholstery, rugs, etc since regular thread would look way too big and be out of scale with the rest of the piece.

This camera is about as big as the first joint in my thumb.

Lots of fun here. But what an amazing collection and what amazing works of art.