Fairy Bench in 1/12th scale

Working with the random and irregular shapes of driftwood and natural forms tends to dictate the outcome no matter what the initial vision is.

I sat down at my workbench intent on creating a Fairy Miniature Three Seater Sofa. I had already created a chair and a little side table in 1/12th scale, and the natural choice was always going to be something that could join these previous creations.

I raked through my growing collection of small driftwood pieces, this always takes far longer than it should do because I find myself admiring the sheer beauty of each piece as I examine it for suitability for the project at hand.

Driftwood Miniature Fairy Bench

The top rail that I used for the back of the bench has an interesting shape and it has a slight curve as well as being the correct length.
This would form the basis for the design, as I had already, by then, decided on letting the design grow organically.

I created the back of the bench and initially it looked like the start of a headboard for a bed. The top and bottom rails are connected using wooden barbecue skewers.
I went for this option because I needed to create some structural regularity at this point so that the rest of the bench would maintain a uniform functionality.
I have this notion that a piece should always look capable of performing the task for which it was designed - For when the Fairies come calling.

I drilled corresponding holes in the top and bottom rails to accept the wooden skewers, and these were glued into place with PVA.
I then carefully selected the two uprights that form the side structures and the back legs and glued it all together. I tend to use a superglue to create the initial bond and hold it all together. I then push a 2 part adhesive into the joints to help build strength.

Fairy Chair in 1/12 scale

Without a doubt, making miniature furniture certainly presents some challenges. As I have mentioned before - scale is paramount, when dealing with items that are readily identifiable in the full-scale world, the proportions have to be as close as we can get them in miniature.
We are all so used to subconsciously absorbing information about everyday things, that when we see something that jars, we may not know why, but somehow, our brain is telling us that something is not as it should be - and the paradox is: In miniature, that whole feeling is magnified.

1/12th scale Fairy Chair

Here is a chair that I have made out of: Willow, Ash and Driftwood.

The overall height is about 4.5 inches as I wanted it to have a tall back to accommodate the piece of driftwood that is forming part of the back support.
The other dimensions can be pretty much worked out by comparing to the height of the chair.

Miniature Fairy Chair

Even the size of some of the natural detail needs to be taken into account, especially when combining materials that are from the same source but are part of a different part of the tree or whatever your source might be.

There is no hard and fast rule for calculating the scale of natural detail; you can only look at the item and if your brain is telling you that there is something not quite right - then that is generally the case, and you need to work through some of the options i.e. trial and error.