In the words of iconic Barbie, “Math is hard.”

Well…it is for me.  My husband handles it with relative ease, so for your information, the figures here come mostly from him, accompanied with frequent eye rolls as he considers most things doll related as ever so slightly odd.  However, he humors me.  For that, I am most grateful.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been involved in the fashion doll world for two decades.  In all of that time, I have completed one (1) room box/scene that has survived and actually hosted dolls/figures for longer than a few weeks.  My pride and joy is The Mini Guinea Sweet Shoppe (seen here as it was decorated for the holiday season 2013).

The Mini Guinea was named for the adorable miniature ceramic Guinea Pigs I found one day while cruising Etsy.  The trio I purchased sits upon the display unit in the store.  The room box measures approximately 28 inches across the front.  In 1:6 scale, this would translate into a store front opening of only 14 feet.  This is not a large store.  In our shopping mall, there are small store fronts this size, but the shops are much deeper than The Mini Guinea.  However, this room box is sized the way it is so that it can sit where it sits, on a small, low, antique table in our living room.  My desk and main work area sit directly opposite The Mini Guinea.

My husband built the furniture in TMG (The Mini Guinea) to my specifications.  Some pieces have also found their way into the OSS Etsy Store.  I have been focused mostly on shabby/cottage chic, but there are black/oak pieces in the store too.  As you can see, there isn’t a large amount of room in this room box for furnishings and figures, but I did not have the space for a 4 foot wide box which would have been more to my liking.  Scale is important, but, as collectors, we are more often than not constrained by the size of our surroundings in TRW (The Real World).

Also mentioned in my previous post, some fashion dolls are not really true to 1:6 scale.  In the second shot of TMG, you will find two Fashion Royalty females and an action figure male.  Action figures are, for the most part, much more true to scale.  But, for the taller fashion doll females, the handsome action figure males are too short.  Fashion Royalty dolls, both male and female, or closer to 1:5.5 scale.  In this scale, the women in TRW would be approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall.  The men would be approximately 6 feet tall.  Calculating the formula for 1:6 scale is challenging enough for me, so switching to the more realistic scale of 1:5.5 would be asking for more trouble than it’s worth.  And since the upper body sizes, hand sizes, arm lengths, etc. work for 1:6 scale, why let a few extra inches in leg length to give us fits?

Returning to 1:6 scale and interpreting it for your use as a collector or admirer of miniatures, it is not as difficult a task as some would have us believe.  In order to make the calculations, simply multiply or divide.  An inch in doll scale equals six inches in the human world.  A mixing bowl from my kitchen that measures 4.5″ tall and has a diameter of 10.25″ would be, in 1:6 doll scale, .75″ (or 3/4″) tall, and its diameter would be approximately 1.7″ (1 7/10″).  Find the human measurement and divide it by 6.  To go the opposite way, measure the doll item and then multiply it by 6.  This will give you the size it would be in TRW.

And again, as I mentioned in the previous post, there can be wiggle room in the doll miniatures if they “look” right to the human eye.  Frequently, a miniature will still appear to be “in scale” even when it does not strictly adhere to the 1:6 scale formula.  Please don’t allow scale to dictate your collecting.  I have found many items that do not precisely fit the formula but look wonderful in scenes.  When you find something that is neatly in scale, it can be very exciting!  Realistically detailed miniatures in the right scale can be elusive.  However, the search itself can actually be a source of great enjoyment too!