Diorama queen shows off her collection
Most of Amanda's collection are her own designs that she made by hand.
Amanda Pretorius (62), from Sherwood Gardens, has been building miniature dollhouses, or dioramas, for 25 years.
She was inspired when she visited the Miniature Toy Museum in Stellenbosch, where she turned to her husband, Willem (63), and said: “This is what I want to do.”
When they returned home, they went to Johannesburg and looked for books on making miniatures and Amanda’s passion flourished.
Her first diorama from the first guidebook she bought was a dining room in 1:12 scale. She thinks it’s rather plain, but she enjoyed making it nonetheless.
Her favourite two dioramas in her collection are a Christmas shop she made last December and a 1938 dollhouse she researched extensively and renovated to look as it originally did.
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This Tri-Ang Tudor-style dollhouse is a rare collectable, and many no longer come in the original style.
Although Amanda has some Robotime DIY miniatures, most of her collection she made by hand with her own designs or designs inspired by magazines.
She made a flower shop and library for which she made all the flowers and books. The flowers took her six months to make, and the library has 498 books.
To display all her dioramas, her husband had to build a cupboard with dimensions specific to each diorama.
She also never throws anything away. She recycles everything for her miniatures, from toothpaste caps to cheap, old earrings.
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Most of her dioramas and individual furniture pieces are in 1:12 scale, except for a few pieces like a Tudor-style farmhouse in 1:24 scale and a furniture set in 1:48. When asked if she has a least-favourite piece, she said, “Everything I make I enjoy. It’s fun.”
Besides spending most of her time working on her miniatures, Amanda also enjoys knitting miniature doll clothes with fine, single-thread yarn when she watches television with her husband in the evenings.
She has also created miniature petrol pumps, road signs, and a car dealership diorama for her husband’s model car collection to “give it life”.
Amanda also sells individual miniature pieces at a fair at the AP Church hall in Rietfontein, Pretoria, that is usually held in August but will now be held in April and December too.
The fair is organised by Maryna Liebenberg, who may be contacted on 082 922 0883 for more information.
