The Bottom Line
Dolls House World is the original dolls house magazine published by Ashdown Inc. Now produced in a smaller mid size format, the same as it's sister American publication, Dollhouse Miniatures, it is one of a group of three Ashdown dolls house magazines, which include American Miniaturist. All three magazines are available online through an innovative I-Mag publishing system which allows a reader to leaf through the magazine page by page and print out articles. Ashdown also have some individual articles from their magazines available as online downloads for a fee of $3.00 each from their store section.
Pros
- Medium format British magazine
- Also available online by subscription in an innovative I-Mag subscription
- Good easy projects, coverage of collections and displays
Cons
- Material may be republished and repackaged within the Ashdowne miniature magazines.
- Projects are often more simplified than in other dolls house magazines.
- Extremely frustrating website .
Description
- Lots of easy introductory projects
- Good coverage of wide range of periods, interests and clubs
- Clear photography and layout
- Overlap between sister magazines may be a problem if you subscribe to several.
- Ashdown have been using the backlist from old editions of Dollhouse Miniatures as articles for Dolls House World.
- Website subscription level descriptions, back issue costs and details of club levels are very poor, often confusing.
- I-mag is an interesting concept which worked well when it was introduced. However no current samples exist to try.
Guide Review - Review of Dolls House World Magazine
Ashdowne's Dolls House World offers well illustrated coverage of the hobby end of the doll house community. The magazine's coverage ranges from modern furnishings through the 50's as well as coverage of the Victorian and Georgian periods. There is a good assortment of cheap and cheerful projects, as well as some more involved wood working and finishing projects. Kiva Atkinson regularly contributes articles on polymer clay food, and there are needlework, knitting and dolls house dress projects by various artisans.
Regular collectors are well covered as are dollshouse shops and clubs. Most editions feature generalized cutouts, related to a timely article.
The Ashdowne dollhouse magazines all feature a a wide range of introductory articles and easy to build projects. Unfortunately, Ashdowne's extremely annoying website constantly takes a reader through to yet another sign up for a subscription. The online store features six articles from the magazine which can be downloaded for $3 each, as well as assorted cd's and videos. Although the I-Mag is an interesting concept, there is no longer an area where a prospective viewer can check out even a few pages, or see the front page of the current magazine edition. It appears that a subscription to the I-Mag includes access to printable back issues of the magazine, but that is not completely clear and interested subscribers should check the small print. It is also not clear if an I-Mag subscription includes a membership card good for discounts at various retailers.
Subscription costs membership are ₤42.50 or $82.50 for a one year mailed subscription. I-Mag is ₤20 or ~ $40 per year (depending on the current exchange rates.)
