I have loved miniatures my entire life and consider myself extremely lucky to be able to make a living doing something that I enjoy so much. The photo on the website is of my sister and me with my first dollhouse. It was only natural when it came time for my first real job, I went to work for Village Toys in my home town of Los Gatos, CA (they had a great miniature department). There, I was fortunate to get to know Virginia Hecox. Virginia took me under her wing and taught me everything I needed to know about miniatures and the miniature business, and she introduced me to many people in the miniature community. I am grateful to still have many of them as my friends today. Virginia also introduced me to a former employee of hers, Jeff Packard.
Jeff and I have been now been married for almost 40 years,and have been making miniatures the entire time. I actually started doing miniature shows in 1978. I used to dress people up in antique clothes, take their pictures, shrink the photographs down to 1" scale and frame them. In the early 80's I had a small line of 1" holiday accessories and after that sold 1" scale books, magazines and potato chips at CIMTA for several years. I actually liked 1/2" scale the most, and, like many of you, saw no need to go into quarter scale, it was just too small.
In 1986 I went to a Houseparty on the Queen Mary and fairly reluctantly bought my first 1/4" house kit. Unfortunately, it was not very well cut, required all kinds of alterations, and I swore like a sailor the entire time I assembled it. However, when it was done, it was the cutest thing I had ever seen in my life, and I was hooked on 1/4". The house needed furniture, so I made 3 different sets of 1/4" furniture. Virginia took those kits to the National that year and they sold like hotcakes, and I have been making nothing but 1/4" kits since then.
The last thirty three years have been very good to quarter scale and to Jeff and me. Our houses get better every year and interest in 1/4" scale continues to grow. Over the years we have created close to one hundred different house kits. Jeff is now working with me full time on miniatures. He and I work well together because we each have skills the other one does not, and together, we do our best to provide you with kits that you will enjoy and treasure for years to come. Our hope is that the kits we make will be a springboard for your creativity and that you will enjoy making miniatures as much as we do.
