In business for more than 40 years, Alice DeVore “can’t remember not having a dollhouse,” and has channeled her lifelong love into her shop, Fingertips Fantasies Dollhouses and Miniatures, located in Clayton, Del. (Photo courtesy Alice DeVore)
In the realm of childhood wonder, the playful possibilities opened up by a dollhouse’s miniature world often loomed large.
While still most often the stuff of beloved memories, the good news is that you don’t have to be a kid to partake of the magic. Grownups everywhere are finding joy in thinking small.
As a hobby, creative outlet, entrepreneurial sideline, or therapy, extreme downsizing via dollhouse design and decor has legions of dedicated enthusiasts near and far.
Alice DeVore has channeled her lifelong love of all things dollhouse into a successful shop, Fingertips Fantasies Dollhouses and Miniatures. In business for over 40 years, DeVore has been in her current Clayton, Del., location for the past nine.
“I have been a miniature enthusiast most of my life. I can’t remember not having a dollhouse,” DeVore recalled.
She delights in helping the newbies, who are “thrilled with everything” and the more established hobbyists who are usually on the hunt to locate specific items and furnishings following themes, she mentioned.
“Tea shoppes, ice cream shoppes, and bridal shoppes are all very popular now,” DeVore noted.
Over the years she has also sold “castles, dungeons, spooky houses, zombies, fairy houses and gardens, just to name a few.”
Another memorable standout was “a bar/brothel that a lady was building, finding things for that was fun,” she recalled.
For those interested in getting started, DeVore has some advice.
“Start with a room box if you are building, that way you can get familiar with the terms and then go on to whatever style and size house you want. When working with a finished house, do one room at a time, whether it is designing the room or furnishing. That way, you don’t risk repeating purchases of the same item.
I always advise electrifying the house as it adds so much and is not that hard to do. Most of all, enjoy your hobby,” she added.
Along with assisting shop customers, DeVore usually does the First State Mini Club Dollhouse show held annually in Claymont in early Spring, coming up on March 12, 2023. The club’s indoor fall yard sale is set for Sept. 17 at the Claymont Community Center, 3301 Green St, Claymont, Del., and an online yard sale is currently underway on the Club’s website at https: www.firststateminiclub.org.
From their full-scale real life home in Olney, Md., Ruth and Ron DuBois’ Forever Friends Dollhouses and Supplies, has served as a source for dollhouses, furnishings, accessories, and infrastructure for the past 31 years.
Looking for a home-based project to keep her occupied as a new mother, Ruth, a long time needlecrafter, became intrigued after seeing a friend’s dollhouse. Finding a kit that cost about $100, she plunged in and continued completing the project for the next two years.
Unlike today’s kits, “back then, you had to build each room’s wall’s from scratch,” she recalled.
Seeing his wife take so eagerly to dollhouse construction piqued Ron’s own interest; once he began building, he never stopped.
Along with Ruth he took courses to learn the process of electrifying the houses and said his years of hands-on experience has helped him in troubleshooting problems for customers.
They began visiting shows and shops to search for mini treasures, an enjoyable pursuit that over the years has taken them across the United States and overseas to England and the Netherlands.
Among their favorite finds are mini recreations of Waterford crystal pieces from a former Jim Irish Waterford employee, who was awarded permission to make the miniatures.
Deciding to delve deeper into dollhouse creation, the couple invested $700 with Real Good Toys, a premier kit supply company. Their very first kit, a Newport-style electrified house, sold right away, and led to others, with each sale enabling them to purchase the next, better kit to tackle.
The satisfying weekend hobby soon led them to move to a larger home with a workshop, which eventually expanded throughout the entire first floor and served as a display area and retail shop.
After a taste of downtime during COVID’s lockdown, Ruth rediscovered the joy of having time to create.
This past June, the DuBoises decided to stop selling miniatures, whose stocking and sorting had absorbed up to 12 hours per day.
They remain focused on their current long list of dollhouse orders along with structure related supplies such as wallpaper, wood, paint, and electrification needs, just to name a few.
Now, Ruth and a friend have embarked on their own line of artisan miniatures, including tabletops and other items crafted from thin slabs of geode discovered during a three-month stay in Arizona. She’s also downsizing a storehouse of her favorite collectibles available starting in September online at www.invaluable.com.
She said she’s excited, too, about exploring the latest tech advances in the miniature world, including furnishings crafted via 3-D printers, and using LED lighting strips.
Like Alice DeVore, Ruth DuBois feels that she’s found a true home within the dollhouse hobbyists community.
“People are so enthusiastic, and so willing to teach you. And there’s literally nothing that can’t be made into a miniature,” Ruth said.
