This gourmet cook's "pannikins" are a feast for any
miniaturist's eye
Mary's
Mouthwatering
Treats
These three photos were taken by Mary Eccher in 1986
What is there is her ability to "see it in my mind's eye," Mary believes, and to know what colors and textures to add to Fimo and resin that make up the basic parts of her concoctions. "Fimo is the solid part of the food and the liquid is done with resin," she explains. "Those are the two basic parts of my miniature food." To those basics Mary adds the colors and textures each food or beverage would really have, creating "things that people can't find anywhere else," Mary says, "and might want in their room boxes or dollhouses."
Mary's own collection of miniatures includes a kitchen filled with items her mother had brought here from Germany which she can remember playing with as a child growing up in Brooklyn, NY. "She gave them to me and I had them in my attic for years, not even touching them," Mary recalls."
During those years the Ecchers were raising three active sons which left little time for Mary's hobbies. Just over four years ago, though, she became interested in miniatures and "down from the attic came the kitchen, the dollhouses, and the furniture," Mary says.
She had already begun her collection of about 150 dolls, "all kinds of dolls, including dollhouse size. I made the ballroom because of Sandy McKelvey's dolls. I think they are beautiful," she says.
The two-story ballroom structure was built by Mary's husband who was a superintendent of a construction company building high-rises in New York city. Jean Kelly did the interior and, of course, there are Mary's foods and beverages throughout. The ballroom was voted Best in Show at the 1985 Tiny Treasures Show in Boston.
Mary spent hours in the Ecchers' country home north of New York City, creating "pannikins" as she calls them. Pannikins, by definition, are small vessels of food or drink.
It is Mary Eccher's pannikins, small and special, that will help make your miniature kitchen the heart of the home.
Page 2 of 2 - APRIL 1986
Handcrafted Collectible Dollhouse Scale Miniature Foods, Beverages and Accessories
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