Who is d. Anne Ruff?

She didn't invent the wheel, but she certainly uses it to good advantage. The wheel in this case is a color wheel, just one of the components she uses to create her decorating magic. "This is how I automatically deal with color," Dureen Ruff says, "and it can be a lot of fun. You're not just choosing colors at random; there's a reason for colors going together."

The importance of color in her life goes back to her childhood, and later became a part of her vocation. She majored in art in college, and taught it for several years. Then, 25 years ago while her children were still young, miniatures came into her life quite unexpectedly.

As a member of the women's group at her church, Dureen volunteered to assemble a display showing the group's renovation of the church parlor. Her miniature upholstered furniture "attracted more attention than the message I was trying to deliver," she recalls. Shortly thereafter, "d. Anne Ruff Miniatures" was launched.

Why "d. Anne"? "Because I've always liked my second name and would rather be called d. Anne," she explains. Then she adds, laughing, "I guess the lower case "d" is really just for fun.

"With the help of her husband, Rick, d. Anne devised a tool, the unique Pretty Pleater, to help her create the tiny pleats which give her curtains and draperies that professional look. After experimenting with various materials, they constructed their pleater out of rubber. It is now available in three pleat sizes, and is a standard fixture in many miniaturists' tool boxes.

d. Anne credits Faith Rogers (Precious Little Things) with the suggestion some years ago to market her Pretti Point rugs as kits. The rugs, colored with felt tip pens, began as a workshop at a National Houseparty. Now that line has grown to the current selection of 11 different designs, ranging from simple florals to more complicated Oriental patterns, available in a variety of sizes and shapes. The Pretty Pleater and Pretti Point rugs have become her trademarks, along with the Hat Box settings that came along a little later.

d. Anne had worked primarily in one-inch scale until "I was motivated by Nut-shell News' first issue on half-inch scale," she recalls, which appeared in 1980. "I was intrigued with doing smaller furniture, so that prompted me to do my first half- inch scale setting. I've always liked hatboxes and thought I could use that concept as a basis for a small room." Her first Hat Box was created in 1981, and they "have been popular ever since," she observes.

There have been many changes and important milestones over the last 25 years for d. Anne Ruff Miniatures. d. Anne has become an Artisan of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, was elected to the Academy of Honor of the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts, and is listed in Who's Who of American Women. But the best thing that has happened, she says, is having her husband as a full-time partner. "Rick retired two years ago," she says. "He does all the shows with me now and handles all the business.

"Having Rick handle that side of her "cottage industry," d. Anne says, has allowed her time to create and expand her home furnishings and accessories line.

Excerpts from an article written by Anne Day Smith for Nutshell News, January, 1996.

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