How The Marvellous Miniature Workshop spent a combined 200 hours on making this Radio Times feature

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Creating miniature scenes is incredibly detailed work. Hannah Lemon and Abi Trotman, featured in the show The Marvellous Miniature Workshop (available on iPlayer), dedicated a total of 200 hours to crafting a Christmas snowscape for the current double issue of TopMob magazine, which is available now.

Sarah Trotman, originally from south Wales, creates incredibly detailed miniature items for dollhouses and dioramas. She began this hobby with her grandmother when she was eleven years old. Meanwhile, Lemon, who is Japanese but now lives in the UK, started crafting miniature houseplants during a work break and the lockdown period. Both women have since turned their passion into a full-time job.

With tools like tweezers, brushes, paints, and glue – and a careful touch – Lemon describes how she created RT‘s winter scene. Everything was built and photographed in her living room! She started with Styrofoam, which is lightweight and easy to shape and attach things to. Then, she added frost and snow effects with sprays and sprinkled on artificial snow to complete the look.

The tree is crafted from shimmering tinsel twisted to form branches of various sizes. The snowmen, complete with tiny clay carrot noses and black glass bead eyes, sport hats made from a surprising source. “I used my old socks, but don’t worry, I washed them first!” Lemon says with a chuckle.

As a fan, I was so impressed with Lemon’s dedication to the reindeer! She really wanted them to look believable, so she dove deep into studying how they’re built. She started with a wire frame, almost like a skeleton, then built up the shape using tape to represent the muscle and tissue. Finally, she used modelling paste to get the perfect form – it was amazing to see the process!

After the base layer dried, she painted it with acrylics and then added fake fur. She explained that creating the face is always the hardest part when working on something so small. She wanted the miniature figure to look directly at the viewer, appearing cheerful and confident, as if it was in charge.

Trotman’s gingerbread house was a serious building undertaking. She explains that carefully measuring and getting the roof angles correct took a lot of effort. It was important to make sure everything was the right size and in proportion, so she had to carefully scale down all the pieces.

She got the idea for her creation from a vintage American cooking magazine from the 1970s, featuring a delightfully old-fashioned gingerbread house. She loved the style and decided to recreate it using modern techniques. First, she used a laser cutter to precisely shape pieces of a durable material called PolyBak. She assembled these pieces as a test fit, then coated the PolyBak walls with a special clay to give them the look and feel of traditional gingerbread.

A mixture of Polyfilla and acrylic paint created the ideal icing, and all the miniature sweets and candy canes were carefully crafted by hand, baked, and then given a glossy finish.

You know, as a movie fan, I totally get what director Lesli Trotman means when she says making a film is deeply personal. It’s not just about the technical stuff; it’s about pouring your own feelings and passion into the work. And honestly, that’s what really connects with audiences – when you can feel the heart and love someone put into a project.

Authors

Laura RutkowskiCommissioning Editor

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2025-12-20 14:34