I love your blog, full of amazing little works of art! My question is, in this time of Internet when your creations can be viewed and sold worldwide, what is the most commonly desired scale? I used to make things for my Mom's dollhouse out of scrap and junk. It never occurred to me there were so many different sizes! Thank you for your time, and for your lovely blog. Sincerely, Debbie
Thank you! I’m so glad your enjoying my blog. So, I’ve never seen like a formal survey, but based on my observations in order:
1:12 is still considered the standard. Its still very easy to find and most of the larger commercial brands produce primarily in this scale. I think in part it remains popular because its a great compromise between still having lots of great visible detail and still being relatively small.
1:6 (also known as playscale or fashion doll scale) has also become very popular. I’m pretty sure this due to the popularity of some of the new fashion doll lines, such as Monster High and Ever After and resurgent interest in Blythe. Also, it seems to be a pretty common scale for ball jointed dolls (BJDs). Also, the rise in popularity of Re-ment collectables has probably contributed.
1:24 & 1:48 (sometimes called half-scale and quarter scale respectively, because of how they relate to 1:12 scale). These scales are a bit more niche, though there are some dedicated collectors, mostly older miniaturists, out there who really seem to enjoy them. The joke among collectors is that as your collection grows larger and your room grows scarcer, your favorite scale becomes smaller. 1:24 is probably slightly more popular because there also model cars in that scale and it works well with G gauge model trains.
1:4 is also a bit of niche scale. It’s the scale for American Girl and other 18″ dolls, so its very popular for the people who collect those dolls.
1:144 (also known as micro scale or dollhouse for dollhouse scale). There are people who work exclusively in this scale, but largely I’ve seen it used by 1:12 collectors to create dollhouses for their dollhouses.
1:18 (or 2/3 inch to one foot) was a common scale for some commercial dollhouses such as Lundby, Renewal, and Petit Princess. There isn’t much demand for new pieces, as most people are more interested in collecting the vintage/antique pieces instead.
