A pet owner has made dozens of miniature real-life sets including Hogwarts and Coronation Street – for her HAMSTER.
Lisa Murray-Lang, 44, used cardboard boxes and dolls furniture to recreate iconic scenes for her Syrian Hamster, Spud, to explore.
She hand-crafted every element – including tiny bar stools and hamster-themed artwork on the walls.
Lisa – who used to be a graphic designer – also used her computing skills to tweak the logos – turning the pub from Coronation Street The Rovers Return into the ‘Rodent’s Return’ and Hogwarts into ‘Hamwarts’.
It took Lisa between one to three days to complete the sets and Spud’s adventures have also taken him to ‘London’ and an art gallery.
Lisa, now a professional dog walker, has had to temporarily stop working and turned to model-making to pass the time.
Lisa, from Birmingham, West Midlands, said: “Spud loves it – he’s always excited for his next adventure.
“Everytime time I get him out and it’s just to go in his ball now he’s disappointed.
“Finding miniature dolls furniture online has opened up a whole new world.
“I found him a tiny pair of gold glasses so Spud could look like Harry Potter.
“It’s a bit of fun and it gives me something to focus on.”
Lisa got Spud, who she named after a character from the film Trainspotting, in June 2019.
She started making the tiny scenes in March 2020 when the UK went into lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Lisa was first inspired by a similar video of guinea pigs running around a miniature scene and her designs went from there.
She said: “My job as a pet sitter and dog walker came to a grinding halt during lockdown.
“I needed a way to stay busy and then my friend sent me a video of guinea pigs in a tiny art gallery.
“I thought: ‘That’s it, Spud has to go too!’
“And I got to work making my own version.”
Creative Lisa used old cardboard boxes from deliveries to start building her miniature scenes.
The first set she made was an art gallery, followed by the pub from Coronation Street, Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and a day trip to London’s famous sites.
For the things she couldn’t craft, like beer taps and a pair of glasses, Lisa ordered dolls house furniture online.
She said: “I used to be a graphic designer before I was made redundant so I’ve enjoyed getting creative.
“Any cardboard from deliveries we got has been a new adventure for Spud.
“After making the art gallery, his next adventure was going to be a pub.
“But it couldn’t just be any pub – it had to be an iconic one like The Rover’s Return.
“I redesigned the logo to read the ‘Rodent’s Return’ and did the same for Hogwarts, making it ‘Hamwarts’.
“I made everything that I could, but the more fiddly things I bought online.”
Lisa lives at home with her husband William Lang, 63, and their four cats, however he doesn’t take part in building the scenes.
“The first day I started making I was really quiet upstairs for a while”, she said.
“My husband came up to see what I was doing and he thought I’d gone mad!”
“He just shakes his head and laughs.”
Lisa is unsure when she’ll get back to her full-time job, so will continue to make scenes while she can.
She’s also hoping to turn Spud’s adventures into children’s books one day.
She said: “Looking at me, you might think I’m mad, but it’s a bit of fun.
“I’ve not got many options during lockdown so it’s a nice way to keep busy.
“The B31 Voices group – a community led website and social media page – have really helped with encouraging me to create more adventures for Spud.
“One day I hope to turn Spud’s adventures into a children’s book and I’ve started crowd funding to make it happen.
“My husband is also a graphic designer so he’s going to help me.
“I’m sure children would love to read about his adventures.”
