This week we had a lovely chat with Karin Ashdown, better know as Kay's Miniatures.

Karin from Strand, South Africa, chats to us about how Father Christmas got her into miniatures, her love of history and.....Jakes gorgeous body!...

Tell us a bit of random stuff about yourself (not miniature related)...

I've always been involved with art one way or the other. I've painted and drawn from the age of four. I do theatre set design and construction. Love to bake and cook, but hate having to clean up afterwards! LOL Love animals - have a zoo at home. Read fantasy fiction and historical romance voraciously, love new age music. I don't like noise around me - it rattles my cage badly!  My favourite food is sushi, followed closely by Mediterranean cooking. My main obsession - polymer clay!

Collector, creator or both?...

I'm more a creator than a collector. I love the challenge of making something and getting it to look as lifelike as I possibly can.

What do you specialise in?...

Miniature food in polymer clay

When did you first get interested in creating miniatures and why?...

Oh gosh!  I started making miniature flowers and plants about 16 years ago.  A friend by the name of Maureen Candy showed me how she made the flowers out of confetti and punch outs from book binders. I could see how one could apply those to rubber stamp art (at the time I was working for a rubber stamp company) and spent hours making miniature flowers to embellish my cards.

Years later I had started my own business doing ceramics. I was looking for tiny toys to fill a Santa toy sack and visited a local Dollshouse and Miniature fair. That started a whole new adventure.  It started out being for me as a hobby and break away from the ceramics business and turned into a business all by itself.

Where do you create your miniatures?

I create all my miniatures at my clay desk.  Most of my work is displayed via my flickr photos sites and at the occasional fair. At home - nothing is on display. LOL  All my personal stuff is stored in containers waiting for the incomplete dollshouse to be hauled out of storage and completed.  The project has been shelved for the last 4 years. My father and I started working on it shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer. I just haven't had the heart to work on it. I'll get there.

What is the oddest miniature you have created?

Ummm..... absolutely no clue!  I suppose it would depend on your definition of odd. I suppose the mouldy food prop for the last dance production would top the list. :)

Who inspires you?...

No one person. Mostly the books I read will trigger something within my brain and I just HAVE to make it.  Other than that everything around me. I could be in a restaurant and the plate of food set in front of me will inspire me to go home and create it.  I love baking pastries and cakes etc, and that is reflected in my miniatures too.

When your mind is blank...what inspires you?...

I head back to my books and just spend hours reading.  In the back of my mind I'm usually mulling over the logistics of a technique I need to use or develop to achieve a certain effect. Once that is straight in my head I sit down at the table and just work. I don't plan ahead - I simply follow the instructions of my muse! Not worth fighting her.

Do you do commissions and if so what sort of things do you get requested to make?...

Very occasionally.  They're usually historical pieces and pertain to a display that has to be historically accurate, right down to the very last detail. It involves a lot of research which is absolutely fascinating. Luckily I'm passionate about history, so that's no hardship. I'm currently researching tableware from the 1700s.

What's  your "other" job or is it miniatures all the way?...

I'm a full time mom and housewife. In between I take on various limited commissions for stage designs and the occasional baking for functions and events.  I used to teach crafts full time, but a muscle disorder has put an end to that.  Now I have to pace myself very, very carefully.

If you hadn't started miniatures what would you have liked to have done instead?...

I would probably have continued with the ceramics, but as I've lost a lot of muscle strength and experienced extensive nerve damage, it would have been for a very limited time. Slip and moulds are heavy and take a lot of physical effort.  I guess things come our way in life for a reason.

What does your family think of  your obsession?...

They probably think I'm totally insane. My daughters and hubby are very supportive. My son?  He enjoys the woodwork and stage construction and backstage work.  The minis - couldn't give a hoot!

Do you plan each creation or do you run with your imagination?...

The only things I ever plan are commission pieces.  Everything else happens on it's own.

Do you do fairs?...

Very occasionally.

If you could change anything about the miniature profession, what would it be?...

It would be lovely if things were more easily available in South Africa. We have maybe 5 fairs a year in total - and only 2 of those are in areas within my range of travel.

I also hate the way people here look at your work and quite happily state "oh I can make that myself, I'm not paying that for something like this!"  Never mind the hours of research that goes into achieving certain effects, the fact that almost all my materials are imported or that I spend hours making my own plates, dishes etc, simply because they are not available here, or are too expensive to buy and re-sell. There are also makers out there who don't seem to be able to come up with an original idea of their own, copy every single stage of your item right down to the findings you might use to create the bowls and then undercut your selling price by about a third. I hate that.

Pros and cons?

Very rewarding to make, but I can't support my family on what I sell. They're time consuming, materials are very expensive, though luckily miniatures don't use much.

If you could create any miniature what would it be?...

Realistic piped meringues.

Is there a miniature task/project that you’ve been putting off or procrastinating about for a long time?

Yes - finishing off sculpting a miniature doll. Poor Jake has been blind for over a year. I'm dreading doing the eyes. He has a gorgeous body, he deserves gorgeous eyes.

What is your ultimate goal?...

I'd love to get IGMA status.  I really need to think about it seriously.

Describe yourself in 3 words...

Perfectionist, nutcase, insecure