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In December of 1962, the
pop artist Andy
Warhol was asked in an interview, "What do your rows
of Campbell's soup cans signify?" Warhol responded,
"They're things I had when I was a child"...and that is exactly what my Paper Minis™
artwork signifies to me. Paper Minis are an
expression of the warm fuzzies of my childhood, and
are a form of Pop Art but are easier to carry around than a large
silk-screened canvas of a can of soup. Surprisingly,
I don't have an active dollhouse on display at my
home, I just
love little things and don't need dolls or
their houses to display a Paper Minis™ gem. Many of
my creations were inspired by childhood and other
life memories. For instance, the
vintage Paper Minis™ remind me of visits to my
grandparents in Missouri and to my Great Grandma Woo in
Kentucky. The McDonald's fast food items and vintage
place mats remind me of when we returned from our
tour of duty in France in the 1960s and discovered
these new fun places to eat popping up everywhere
along the highway to Missouri. The Olive Garden
restaurant items remind me of the many times I took
my mother and father (his favorite restaurant second
only to local Mexican restaurant Anita's) to dinner. Obviously, Paper Minis
represent events and memorabilia that are close to
my heart.
I never focused on the fact
that I was drawn to miniatures until 13 years
ago. How did that fact go unnoticed? Odd, for if you
open my powder room medicine cabinets you won't find
room deodorizer or Advil...instead an
outstanding collection of fast food meal toys–going back to the miniaturized
McDonald's French
fries that makes into a kid's transformer fighter. In the other cabinet can be found souvenirs
from my childhood including a tiny glass bottle of
gold water...Senator Barry Goldwater's presidential
campaign handout.
My younger
sister, Cordelia, is actually the force that got me
started on Paper Minis™. She has spent years
populating a wonderful Victorian house our Father
built for her as well as many room boxes. One day
she showed me her latest dollhouse accessories
purchase. I was impressed, but felt that the little
kitchen groceries could be improved. Having
worked as a graphic artist for many years, and with Cordelia's encouragement, I quickly became obsessed
with creating the perfect 1:12 scale miniatures. A
task that took many years longer than I thought it
would. The resulting Paper Minis'™ process is my
special "secret recipe;" 10 years to figure out how
to bring out color, texture, crisp lines and
readable typesetting at a scale 1/12th our human
size! If you have been following Paper
Minis™ over the last several years on-line (from the
end of 2002), you know it has been an
interesting journey.
Paper Minis'™ format has run the gamut of high-tech on-line
downloading...to honor-system on-line
downloading...to auto-executable CDs.
Paper Minis™ became known all over the globe, and
how exciting for me to have e-pals from as far away
as Australia! Anyway, each of those systems
had its virtue, and customers liked Paper Minis™
regardless, but I was always trying to perfect the
product line. With the downloadable types of delivery I couldn't
control how customers' printouts were looking. Each
customer's printing situation is different of
course...different paper,
different ink...all these elements impact the
quality (or lack thereof) of a finished Paper Mini™.
So my next logical step in developing Paper Minis™
products was to develop pre-printed, pre-cut kits.
Armed with a new computerized cutter I was cutting
morning, noon and night. All that labor meant higher
priced Paper Minis™ and took me away
from the creative part–designing!
Then came the
light-bulb moment. From customer feedback, I learned
hobbyists like to cut
their own Paper Minis™. It's therapeutic
(translation: fun). So back to the drawing board I
went and shortly thereafter Paper Minis™ Cut 'n Glue
Kits were born and were well received. In tandem with the
Cut 'n Glue Kits, I spend a great deal of time
writing the Paper Minis News™ newsletter and
designing monthly
sample projects in many doll scales. These are enjoyed by literally
thousands of club members–I like to whet members'
appetite with club projects so that they can't
resist the catalog of available kits. I believe that
Paper Minis™ finished kits will be collectible items
in years to come, so take care of your little
treasures. Keep them safe in one or more of the
little mini vignette shadowboxes available through
Paper Minis™ printie CDs. I think you will enjoy making
Paper Minis™ as much as I enjoy
designing them. Collect one each month and sign and
date the bottom. Your great-grandchildren will be
enthralled with your collection. That reminds me of
the "little things drawer" my Grandmother Woodruff
kept in her kitchen to keep us busy when we visited!
Ann of Paper Minis |
