More feature: Mini marvels

By Lauren Mitchell
Updated November 7 2012 - 4:30am, first published February 21 2011 - 12:19am
SNEEK PEEK: Inside one of Dale Johns’ miniatures. Pictures: PETER WEAVING
SNEEK PEEK: Inside one of Dale Johns’ miniatures. Pictures: PETER WEAVING
Mary Wilkinson grows beautiful bonsai.
Mary Wilkinson grows beautiful bonsai.
HORSING AROUND: Glen Drust with his beloved little Bella.
HORSING AROUND: Glen Drust with his beloved little Bella.

DALE Johns’ first encounter with his wife’s miniatures group was on a train trip to a miniatures store in Melbourne, where one of the members told of the time she caught a mouse in a trap, skinned it and kept the fur for a bear skin rug.“That’s when he thought, ‘yep, they’re all as mad as each other’,” laughs Caroline Johns.But it didn’t take too long for Dale to be won over by this Lilliputian life.The couple co-ordinate the annual miniatures display during the Eaglehawk Dalia and Arts Festival, and their spare time is spent creating scaled-down scenes from life.And they’re exquisite. Scaled at one-to-12, the books on the shelves have pages, the lamps have globes, the drawers are filled with tiny trinkets and even the clocks keep time, whiling away the hours of their perfectly-contained rooms.“You can have the house you’ve always dreamed of having, you just have it small,” Caroline says.“Most people who do miniatures want to make them perfect, their home might be messy but they want their miniatures perfect. We tend to like things a bit dirty and messy.“Any little spider that comes into our house is doomed. We catch them and put them into the miniatures and hope they’ll build webs.“Then, we’ll get a nice-sized, dead spider in there.”The more authentic the scene, the better. Take, for example, the country garage Caroline is in the process of making: a replica of her father’s Wedderburn business.When finished, the roof will be rusted, the floor will be greasestained, it’ll look and smell just like the real thing. There’s even a tiny girly calendar, ready to adorn the inside walls.It’s a way of capturing the family history in 3-D. Caroline says they are working to create a “family tree” in miniatures, and with a butcher, barber and pastry maker in the family, there’s no shortage of inspiration.For Dale’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, the couple made a miniature version of their living room. It was complete with personal things like their favourite newspaper crossword and the Anzac badges Dale’s dad once sold.It was perfect, save for the floor lamp in the corner: a necessary addition to bring light into the room.“They didn’t have a floor lamp, so we bought them the same floor lamp for Christmas,” says Caroline. Problem solved.Caroline says she lives her life in miniature: ground coffee becomes soil, toothpicks become precious tools of the trade and yes, not even the mice are safe.“There isn’t a thing you can buy in real life that you can’t buy in miniature. But the longer you’re in it, the more you try to make for yourself,” she says.“My doctor often has little white empty vaccine bottles for me when I go there, they make great lolly jars in stores or jars of preserves.”The Johns have a lot of fun with their hobby, and so do others.“The guy I work with asks me what I’m doing on the weekend and if I say I’ve got a miniature meeting he says, ‘well, that won’t take long’,” Caroline says.Don’t knock it until you see it: apparently making miniatures is the second-biggest hobby in the world. And yes, that’s ironic.Pint-sized potsAs far as trees go, the klinki pine is known as a monster. In Papua New Guinea in 1941 one such tree made the text books for stretching 88.9 metres towards the heavens.Mary Wilkinson grew up among such wonders, in the rain forests of PNG, towered over by untamed jungle.Now, to fully appreciate Mary’s trees, you need to crouch down low and get up close. Bonsai is her poison.Mary moved with her family from PNG to the Dandenongs as a teenager.“I was amazed by the changes in the seasons and the changes in the fruit and foliage on the trees,” she says.“I was fascinated to learn you could own one of those trees yourself, hold it in your hand and still see all of those changes.”She learnt to tame these mighty trees from one of the first people to practice the art of bonsai in Australia, Fred Smith.“He used to work on the docks before the war and he noticed the captains on the Japanese freight ships all had bonsais in their cabins,” she said.When Mary and her husband Eric moved to Bendigo, they gradually met other bonsai enthusiasts and eventually formed the Bendigo Bonsai Club.The club holds meetings and workshops and exhibits each year as part of the Bendigo Easter Festival.Mary said people’s reactions to seeing the decade-old trees, growing in shallow pots varies from “Oh, that’s cruel” to fascination.“And it’s not cruel, obviously if a tree is going to survive in a pot for decades it has to be happy,” she says.If happiness is a reflection of being loved, that may explain the state of Mary’s plants; more than 60 specimens receive careful attention in this backyard.“It’s just a very satisfying hobby,” she says.“It gives me contentment, relaxation and I’m always learning something.“And the thing about them is you’re never finished working on them, you’re always looking to achieve something more.”What’s that they say about less being more?Tinkerbelle trottersCarol Drust admits three-and-a-half month old Bella is spoilt rotten, but this is the one and only time she’ll be allowed on the lounge suit.“She got spoilt when she was sick, even at the vets they spoilt her rotten,” Carol says.“She got colic when she was nine weeks old and if it wasn’t for the Eaglehawk vets here she wouldn’t have survived, they operated and she survived it.”But Carol and husband Glen do harbor a big love for their miniature ponies, which they breed on the outskirts of Eaglehawk.“We started off with big horses when the kids were young, they all had horses, then when they left home Carol and I got into miniatures and we’ve been into miniatures ever since,” Glen says.He says it was a way for them to continue their association with horses.“Everything is exactly the same as with a bigger horse, except you do it in a smaller quantity,” Glen says.Locals can get their pony fix this weekend at the IMHR & D&M Stock Feeds Victorian Miniature Horse and Pony Titles at Bendigo Showgrounds.Event co-coordinator Leigh Palmer says there will be more than 100 little tackers trotting the showgrounds. “We’d love to get as many people as possible here to see what we’re all about,” she says.“People think they’re like overgrown dogs but they’re very versatile.”Leigh grew up around the trotting track and rode show jumpers when she was younger.“As I got older and decided I’d break rather than bounce I got into miniatures because I can’t be without a horse,” she says.Plus, she says that bond a person can share with a horse can be even closer with a miniature because they have such wonderful temperaments.They’re a lot easier to keep than a large horse, and as one of Leigh’s friends found out, can have added benefits.“One friend who I sold a pony to found it was a really great guycatcher,” she laughs.“She used to walk it into Eaglehawk and tie it up out the front of the supermarket and when she’d come out all the guys would be around it.”She said they make wonderful pets, they don’t bark, and think of all that pony poo for the vegie patch… Perfect for baby spinach and cherry tomatoes!- Miniatures will be on show next weekend at the doll and teddy show at the Kangaroo Flat Leisure Centre, and during the Eaglehawk Dahlia and Arts Festival in March.- The Bendigo Bonsai Club will exhibit during the Easter Festival in the Forest Street Uniting Church Hall.

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