Mini Kensington

I have a thing for papercraft; in my former life as a receptionist, I used to kill down time by assembling tiny pandas and turntables and parrots, the patterns for which were offered for free from Yamaha for some reason (note: if you have a menial-type job in which you may be asked why the fuck you’re making an okapi, I recommend that you maybe not go to that site; it’s an amazing resource but I strongly suspect that my little animals were a big factor in my getting canned).

But if you enjoy the zen of Elmer’s glue/x-acto knife/glue-tab-A-to-space-B assembly, have local pride and are not on the clock, check out Daymaker’s patterns for standard Kensington/Fishtown/Port Richmond sights (have I mentioned that I’m boycotting the term Port Fishington?). There’s lunch carts, Kenzinger trucks, Fishtown rowhouses (complete with tiny star bolts), a modern interloper, even-teenier-than-usual Trinities and a bunch more that are surprisingly evocative of the area.

They say they even have a teeny little Memphis Taproom, although that pattern doesn’t seem to be available yet, and have a custom option where it appears you can get a quote on your own Philadelphia home, place of work or favorite bar. Yay! Although we imagine it’s waaaaay more expensive to get something custom than the $3-$5 it costs to get one of the above prefab patterns printed on card stock and mailed to you.

I’m imagining the miniature train set running through a little country village that our neighbors set up around Christmas every year when I was growing up, the idea of popping in a few lunch trucks amidst all the glittery fake snow makes me very happy.