How to Display Your Miniature Orrery

I recently received a nice inquiry from someone who had received one of my miniature orrery pieces as a Christmas gift. She was wondering what would be the best way to display her "small treasure". It struck me that I had never been asked that question and it would be worthwhile to discuss it here in my blog.

When I began making miniature orreries (back in 2011!) I posted them in the "OOAK dollhouse miniatures" section of eBay, where adult dollhouse collectors would find unique 1/12 scale miniatures for decoration of their dollhouses and roombox displays (I currently sell them through Etsy most of them time, BTW). I

believe most of my purchasers to date have been dollhouse enthusiasts, but I have heard from others who simply display them as interesting art pieces in their own right.

I'll admit when making them I usually envision it sitting on a tiny table or desk in a woody Victorian dollhouse library, perhaps amidst delicate lamps and tomes about steamships or Sherlock Holmes.

One reseller on Etsy placed one of my pieces inside jar-shaped rotating music box that perfectly fit the piece. I've actually considered selling some of them inside a glass "snowglobe" without the water, of course. You can purchase empty snowglobes (or "waterglobes") at this website, National Artcraft, if you wish. I've not tried this yet, but I think the one with a 3 inch interior diameter (#B) or the next one larger would be the right size for most of my pieces. It might require a bit of crafting to make one look good that way, though. I think the bases for those might be discarded, too.

Another option would be to place it in one of those glass display bells available at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. You can also buy them on Amazon. Those come in a couple of sizes. You usually need to buy the glass and the wooden base separately, but they look nice. One of those might be a bit short for your piece, though.

craft stores like

If you look around a store like Hobby Lobby, though, you can often find lovely glass boxes with soldered metal frames in various sizes. I think one of those would work very well with a piece like yours. Be sure to take a short ruler or measuring tape to the store after measuring your orrery piece.

In the next weeks I will try to post some pictures of interesting ways to display my pieces. If you have one I would love to see a picture of your way of displaying it-- or you could just use the comment section below to let me know how you show of our orrery piece.

Wade