Metal Sculpting Workshop with Ron Stetkewicz on Sunday, May 22, 2016

Join us on Sunday, May 22nd from 10am-3pm for a special workshop led by the very talented Ron Stetkewicz. We’ll be learning brass smithing techniques and point soldering using a butane torch to craft a 1:12th scale sea life sculpture pinned to carved and whittled driftwood.

Choose from dolphin, whale, shark, manatee or seahorse.

While this is an adult workshop for students at all levels, it is recommended that you be comfortable using a butane torch and a hand Dremmel in order to fully enjoy the experience. We encourage you to bring your own torch and Dremmel as there will be limited number of these tools available to share and work with. Be sure to bring a dust mask, eye protection, magnification, extra lighitng and your favorite smock. All other tools and materials will be provided. We'll break for a brief lunch. Bring your own or feel free to grab something from nearby take out places.

Class Fee: $125

Don't miss this class! Call 914-231-9871 to make a reservation here now or go online to book a seat.

ABOUT D. THOMAS FINE MINIATURES

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is an online and in-store retail destination featuring artisan dollhouses and top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale furniture and accessories. The shop also offers workshops and classes taught by master artisans.

The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts at all skill levels and abilities, was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it!

The shop also features a gallery space showcasing works in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is located at 579 Warburton Avenue in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY. Gallery and shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 pm. Evening hours are available by appointment.

For more, follow D. Thomas Fine Miniatures on: Pinterest Instagram Facebook and Twitter.

Pickles & Egg Cream: A "Bisl" Glimpse of Old Manhattan

How may of us in 2016 are fortunate enough to remember the sights, sounds, aromas and tastes of the noisy streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side; that old world famous for it’s small shops with sidewalk displays and pushcarts laden with everything from socks and shamatteh, pickles and penny candy? As a child it was far from the manicured streets of midtown Manhattan and world away from my native Queens, but always a special treat to accompany my Aunt Sissy on one of her trips to “look around for a few this and thats.” On one of these may trips I had my first taste of a garlicky sour dill pickle hand-picked from a wooden barrel filled with murky brine, cellophane-wrapped halvah from a huge cut from a huge chunk, an egg cream when we needed to rest our feet.

The memories from walking these streets during the 1930s was so vivid for Ruby G. Strauss that she decided to create a series of charming miniature dioramas depicting scenes of everyday life from this quintessential Manhattan neighborhood. Ms. Strauss began her passion for collecting miniatures and dollhouses in 1988 after the birth of her first granddaughter as an attempt to recreate visions from her personal experiences as part of her legacy to her grandchildren and future generations. Many of her dioramas contain the details of traditional Jewish life between the 1930s and 1950s. These include a butcher shop complete with salamis hanging from string proudly displayed in the front window, a neighborhood grocer selling pickles in wooden barrels, a dining room of a typical apartment showing a traditional family Passover Seder and a street scene complete with pushcarts overflowing with fresh vegetables along with many of Ms. Strauss’s treasured family photographs.

Her collection of these Lower East Side visions have been curated into the collection “Pickles and Egg Cream: A Peek Into the Miniature World of Ruby G. Strauss.” This collection is a proud part of the 5,000 square foot Dorfner Judaica Museum on the 19-acre campus of the Hebrew Home for the Aged in the residential Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York.

The Hebrew Home is a state-of-the-art nursing facility, home to nearly 1,000 residents in facilities ranging from nursing care to assisted living and together with the facility’s other short-term, day and respite care programs serves more than 3,000 persons each year. The Dorfner Judaica Museum (a member of the Americana Alliance of Museums) comprises more than 1,400 Jewish ceremonial objects and other works of art from contemporary artists, all highlighting Jewish art and culture.

ABOUT RUBY STRAUSS

Ruby G. Strauss Studied Hebrew literature and edited Hebrew texts. She was an editor and writer for Behrman House, a Hebrew publishing company, in Springfield, N.J. before retiring after 20 years in 1998. She attended Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., then earned a B.A. in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., before earning an M.A. from N.Y.U. in Hebrew literature. She was a member of the U.J.A. Ms. Strauss passed away in February 2016 in West Palm Beach FL where she had been living for the past 12 years.

ABOUT D. THOMAS FINE MINIATURES

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is an online and in-store retail destination featuring artisan dollhouses and top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale furniture and accessories. The shop also offers workshops and classes taught by master artisans.

The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts at all skill levels and abilities, was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it!

The shop also features a gallery space showcasing works in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is located at 579 Warburton Avenue in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY. Gallery and shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 pm. Evening hours are available by appointment.

For more, follow D. Thomas Fine Miniatures on: Pinterest Instagram Facebook and Twitter.

Readings from The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures Friday April 8, 2016 6-

We are thrilled to be part of the annual, village-wide event to celebrate the literary world for Words-on-Hudson on Friday, April 8th from 6-8pm. Local shops and venues will be hosting live performances and related activities around the spoken word.

We're so pleased that radio host, local resident and miniature enthusiast, J.J. Kennedy will be on hand for readings from the very popular Jessie Burton novel: The Miniaturist.

Readings are twice an hour 6:10, 6:40, 7:10 and 7:40.

We hope you can join us for a very special evening in the shop!

Overview Featured on Barnes & Nobel:

Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam—a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion—a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant.”There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .“On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office—leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.But Nella’s world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home.

To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist—an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .Johannes’ gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand—and fear—the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.

ABOUT D. THOMAS FINE MINIATURES

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is an online and in-store retail destination featuring artisan dollhouses and top quality collectibles including 1/12th scale furniture and accessories. The shop also offers workshops and classes taught by master artisans.

The concept, designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts at all skill levels and abilities, was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it!

The shop also features a gallery space showcasing works in miniature by well-known artists from all over the world.

D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is located at 579 Warburton Avenue in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson NY. Gallery and shop hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from Noon to 5:00 pm. Evening hours are available by appointment.

For more, follow D. Thomas Fine Miniatures on: Instagram Facebook and Twitter.