A Bahrain-based miniature artist uses home-made and recycled materials to create hundreds of tiny but remarkably lifelike worlds inside her home studio.
Interior designer Dina Okba, 54, has become an expert at building hyper-realistic, scaled-down versions of almost all things. She puts together these objects to re-create busy or mundane scenes from everyday life.
Tiny humans, clothes, furniture, appliances and food from traditional dishes to desserts are among the many things Ms Okba brings to life through her acute attention to detail.
“I always aim to create more and more accurate versions of things around me,” Ms Okba told the GDN. “Although I’m an interior designer by trade, I didn’t get to work in that field because I lived in Saudi Arabia for a long time,” said the Egyptian mother-of-two.
“Because I had no job prospects, I looked for another outlet to put my creative energy into. It began with helping my children with school projects.
“Eventually, I started giving workshops to kids after my son and daughter’s friends asked to learn the craft.”
Ms Okba displays numerous maquettes she has made over the years in several glass cupboards in her Riffa home studio.
Among them is a fully-equipped kitchen including an incredibly realistic fridge made from a plastic box which in a past life contained Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
A full Japanese restaurant, a traditional Egyptian street food wagon, a koshari stand, a cupcake shop and an old-school Bahraini bazaar fill the other shelves.
A familiar scene found in houses all across the Arab world – a classic living room – can also be found in the glass case in all its gaudy glory.
The living room contains includes antique chairs, sofas with gilded frames, a traditional carpet, complete with china cabinets and a dresser, featuring fully-operational drawers.
Explaining her approach, the artist said she makes sure to always reference real-life objects. “I once brought a whole raw chicken into the studio to help me perfect a miniature chicken!” she said.
“Miniature building can be an expensive hobby, but it does not always have to be,” said Ms Okba, who has found affordable alternatives to materials like polymer clay.
After being struck by the hefty prices of miniature-building art supplies, Ms Okba recounted how she developed her homemade clay recipe through years of trial-and-error.
“I improved an existent recipe for art clay, made entirely from widely-available household ingredients such as flour, vinegar, salt, starch, PVA glue and petroleum jelly.
“There is also a salt-based dough which is safe for children to use and would not poison them if they put it in their mouths.”
Ms Okba went on to incorporate other natural materials to make her works more realistic, including using cloth, wood and twine.
The self-taught artist said that she uses colour, smell and texture to make her work more lifelike. “For example, I used real spices and grains to fill up baskets in my Bahraini souq scene.
“If I am making a mini-cake, I add chocolate powder or vanilla extract to the clay to make it smell like the real thing too.”
The artisan added that she prides herself on her recycling skills. She is able to completely transform everyday objects usually destined to the trash, like plastic containers and bottle caps.
Ms Okba says that going forward, she wants to publish more tutorials on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to teach other clay lovers how to make miniatures. “I want to give back to the online communities that helped me develop my craft,” she explained.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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