Finnish authoress Tove Jansson (1914 - 2001) wrote a number of children's books about the friendly Moomintrolls. They are a happy family, living somewhere in Finland close to the sea and the big forests. They sleep through the cold and snowy winter, but during the rest of the year their lives are full of both adventure and cosy evenings. Lots of friends with very different personalities come and go at their house. It's really possible to read Moomin books as a child and enjoy the adventures, and later read them again as an adult and see entirely new dimensions of the stories. For more Moomin information including a bibliography, please visit Linda Shippert's Moomin Character guide.
The Groke (to the left in the photo above) is thought to be a dangerous creature. When she approaches, the sun is clouded and a chilly wind starts blowing. As she steps on the lawn, the grass freezes and dies under her feet. She seems to be looking for all kinds of warm and beautiful things, but flowers freeze and die and fires are put out when she comes near. Maybe she's just very sad and lonely. Moominpappa is at the porch, unaware of the Groke.
The Moomin house was originally built to fit inside an IKEA box. It's H0 (1/87th) scale as that was small enough to fit in the box. The inside of the box was covered with sky print paper and scenic grass, and the house was secured with screws from the underside. After a while I decided it was no fun not being able to see the interior without removing the back, so I removed the house from the box and now I display it along with other items in a glass front cabinet.
I cut individual shingles for the roof, from H0 scale 1"x10" wood strips. Each shingle is 5 mm (3/16") long.
For the interior, I used HO scale plastic furniture, but built some pieces like the beds, tiled stoves, and kitchen fireplace. I also designed and made the living room chandelier.
Moominmamma is making gingerbread in the kitchen, and Moomin gets to taste it. The Moomin family, and the Groke, are all made from polymer clay.
The bedrooms on the upper floor. Moomintrolls are fond of tiled stoves so I put one in each room - according to one of the Moomin books, the Moomintrolls' forefathers used to live behind tiled stoves.
Each room has a working lamp. I hid the wires in the corners behind the tiled stoves.
