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noel and pat thomas

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Down to the Nitty-Gritty Details

One of the “largest” architectural works in our miniature collection is a grand three-story Victorian house known as Port Townsend. This stately house is the work of husband and wife artists Noel and Pat Thomas. Commissioned by T/m co-founder Barbara Marshall, the house was built with only one request: that it have a greenhouse.

One of the biggest construction challenges—finding curved glass for the greenhouse—was remedied by cutting pickle jars. Another challenge—creating a functional split chimney flue—was a trial-and-error process involving burning incense in the home’s tiny fireplace. While we at the museum aim to keep all of our objects in pristine condition, the Thomases’ design their miniatures to appear realistic, worn, and lived-in. To create this illusion, a full-sized ashtray with a lit cigarette was placed in the parlor to simulate fireplace soot, tiny spiders were set free in the basement and attic to create cobwebs (don’t worry, they’re not there anymore!) and much of the house was coated with their “Famous Thomas Bug Juice,” a graying solution developed from a gunsmith’s formula.

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