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It
was a gag gift in 1986 that drew
Barbara Richmond into the world of
dollhouse miniatures. Her daughter
presented her with a small dollhouse
kit because "you were whining
and complaining last summer that
you never had a dollhouse when you
were a child!"
Busy with a family and a career in
school business administration, Barbara
had abandoned her pursuit of a degree
in Visual Arts and neglected her
creative side for many years. Putting
the dollhouse together re-awakened
her love for the arts and she discovered
shops and clubs dedicated to the
miniature hobby. A committed do-it-yourselfer,
Barbara began making furniture for
the house and quickly became enthralled
with the world of small.
 Until
she retired in 1993, Barbara continued
to learn about miniatures and was
drawn to making wicker furniture.
"It's very relaxing to sit and
weave," she maintains and enjoys
seeing a piece of furniture emerge
from bits of wire, wood and cord.
She also makes other furniture, such
as cupboards and trunks and has developed
workshops to teach others the joy
of creating miniatures.
Once retired, Barbara was able to
devote more time to the hobby, which
quickly became a full time occupation.
She began to show her furniture at
shows in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal,
Quebec, and was thrilled to be invited
to contribute a room box for a major
exhibition, ZOOM sur les miniatures
at the Musée de la civilisation
à Québec in 1997-98.
When Barbara started making tiny
teddy bears for a dollhouse nursery,
they quickly became a favourite with
the public. She was accepted as an
exhibitor at a major teddy bear show
in London, England in 1997 and has
been a regular exhibitor each year
since then. Her bears have also been
purchased by the Puppenhausmuseum
in Switzerland. Articles on her
teddy bears have appeared in Teddy
Bear Scene,
Canadian
Teddy Bear News and in the
Salute to Tiny Teddies feature
in Teddy
Bear and Friends.
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