Ground:
All ground has texture, whether it is a pine-needle blanketed slope or
an asphalt pavement. The surface beneath our feet looks nothing at all
as does a painted surface. So it is, that one of the most important
points to remember in creating an illusion of reality and depth in a
diorama, whether it is of cigar box or department store window size, is
to create an appropriate foreground texture.
The balsa wood or styrofoam block you may have used in your foreground
provides the main shape and bulk of that foreground. A good paper-mache
mix can be made by mixing equal parts of Plaster-of-Paris, yellow
dextrine, and powdered asbestos. The plaster and asbestos can be found
in building supply stores, and the yellow dextrine at the chemical
supply houses. Denver Fire Clay has the yellow dextrine in Denver. Put
these three dry ingredients in a jar and shake them until they are well
distributed. The mix can be stored dry. To use, add water to the dry mix
to the consistency of putty or a very thick paste, mixing just enough to
use at one time. The mache will form a “skin” on the surface in about an
hour, but can be pushed and modelled somewhat longer. It will dry to a
rock-like hardness overnight. If you plan to build up much thickness, it
is best to do it in several thin layers. Let each layer dry before
adding the next. The mache mix is spread over the balsa wood or
styrofoam block with the palette knife or flexible spatula, to a
thickness of no more than ¹/₁₆″. If the mix sticks to the palette knife
(or to your fingers), moisten the knife just a little, and the material
will not stick.
The mache can be used to make a smooth joint between the foreground
block that slopes up at the back and the picture background. Try to make
this joint a smooth curve, not a sharp angle.
[Illustration: MACHE MIX]
Cliff faces and large rocks, or formations such as those in a
“moonscape”, can be carved from styrofoam chunks. The blocks or chunks
are fastened together by using wooden toothpicks and Elmer’s glue. The
complete foreground is then covered with a layer of the paper mache mix
to hide the obvious plastic texture. Again, Elmer’s glue is brushed on
and the “rocks” are given a texture with fine sawdust or sand.
[Illustration: Moonscape]
BACKGROUND OF “MOONSCAPE” CUT FROM BOOK JACKET.
STYROFOAM CARVED INTO ROCK FORM.
BOTTOM SMEARED WITH ELMER’S GLUE, TOOTHPICK FORCED INTO BASE.
STYROFOAM BASE
Another type of cliff face, with a carved cave opening (for bears,
prehistoric cave dwellers, etc.) is made in the same way. In mounting,
the background picture is curved on just one side and the carved cliff
face occupies the full depth of the cigar box on the side opposite the
curve.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
The same covering of mache, glue, and texture finishes this foreground.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
If grass-like “weeds” or plants are to be shown in the foreground they
can be made of hemp rope cut and pushed into the wet mache mix. Dye the
hemp green with “Rit” or “Tintex” before using. The adhesive quality of
the mix will hold the strands securely. When the mache mix has dried to
a rock hardness, the ground is painted with a thick coat of Elmer’s glue
and sprinkled with a generous layer of varying textures and colors. Very
fine sawdust already dyed a bright green is available at model railroad
shops as model railroad “grass”. If you prefer a less brilliant color,
you may dye sawdust with the Rit or Tintex.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Take two one pound coffee cans. Punch holes in the bottom of one with a
hammer and nail. Hold the coffee can against a scrap of 2″ × 4″ wood
when you punch the holes. Set up the cans, the “sieve” on top. Fill the
top can about half full of sawdust. Heat two or three cups of water to
boiling point. Drop in dye tablet or powder and let it dissolve.
Pour hot dye over sawdust. The dye can be poured through the sawdust as
many times as is necessary to get the depth of color desired. Spread wet
sawdust out on newspapers to dry.
It is a good idea to dye several batches with different greens and
browns, and to sift the dried sawdust through a piece of window screen,
then a kitchen sieve, to get fine, medium and coarse grades. A different
texture can be made by grinding up a ¼″ wooden dowel (available at
hardware stores or lumber companies) in a clean pencil sharpener. When
you glue the sawdust—or fine sand—or any other texture to the base, vary
the color and the texture. Use some light green and some dark, and add a
little brown or tan of a finer texture than the green, to resemble dirt
showing through the grass. Gravel ranging from BB shot to garden pea
size can be used for larger rocks. It is also a good idea to use coarse
textures near the front of the box, fine textures at the rear, to
approximate a correct textural perspective.
The most important thing to do in putting in this dirt and grass
covering is to observe nature itself as closely as it is possible,
seeing just how patches of vegetation grow—whether slopes are bare and
what the “mosaic” of dirt and greenness is. The foreground will look
natural only if it is based on observed knowledge of the actual
relationships in nature.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Bushes and Shrubs ...
can be made with the previously described hemp method and by using
lichen from model railroad shops, dried weeds and twigs, fern-like
material (actually a kind of seaweed) usually sold at Christmas time by
ten-cent stores, by using cut paper and any other material that appears
appropriate. Sponges are not recommended. Somehow, they always resemble
nothing but sponges.
_Lichen_ can be torn into little clumps and fastened to the base with
Elmer’s glue.
_Dried weeds and twigs_ can be dipped in Elmer’s glue, then sprinkled
with or dipped into the dyed sawdust to get a different texture in a
bush. If you have cut tiny scraps of colored paper, these can be spotted
on the lichen or dried weed bushes to resemble flowers. A toothpick will
help to put just one drop of glue on the bush—and the same glue-dipped
toothpick will then pick up the fleck of color to put it in place.
_Unprinted newspaper_ (available in pads from art supply stores) can be
used to make the spears at the base of a yucca tree. Cut a strip of
unprinted newspaper. Slash it.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Roll up strip tightly and spread Elmer’s glue along bottom of strip as
you roll. Bend outer layers down to make proper shape.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Prickly pear cactus can be made with pipe cleaners bent into correct
outline, tied with thread, then the outlines filled in with the paper
mache mix.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Ferns and palms ...
Ferns and palms are made by gluing a wire (get a spool of 22 or 23 gauge
wire from a hardware store) between two lengths of gummed paper tape.
Let wire extend beyond paper tape for length of stem or trunk plus the
usual ½″ for pushing into the base.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Bend paper over, trim, then slash. Make several, then twist wire “stems”
together.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
Paint fronds with poster color, water color, or latex white with casein
colors.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
If “fiddlenecks” are required, they can be made from pipe cleaners and
twisted in with the wire stems of the fronds.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
CREPE PAPER
TRUNK CAN BE PADDED WITH COTTON.
Wrap stems with ¼″ or ½″ strip of brown crepe paper cut across grain of
package, and fastened with library paste or Elmer’s glue. Bend wire
“fronds” into proper shape. Drill or punch hole in base. Smear base of
tree and hole with Elmer’s glue, mount tree in place. Glue dirt or grass
in place at base of tree.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
_Water_
A quiet pond may be made with a mirror. Glue the mirror to the cigar box
before installing anything else. Glue in the background picture next,
then carve chunks of styrofoam for the remaining foreground. Slope
“shores” down toward mirror “pond”. Let the edges of the styrofoam cover
edges of mirror, making an irregular shape for the pond. Glue styrofoam
in place with Elmer’s. For added realism, ripples may be added to the
mirror surface, using clear varnish and oil paints. Mix a tiny bit of
Prussian or “Thalo” blue with some clear varnish. Use just enough to
tint the varnish. Flow varnish on surface of mirror, to a depth of about
¹/₃₂″. Before varnish is completely dry, use an empty “Flit” gun to pump
air over the surface. This air will form ripples which, as the varnish
dries, will remain on the surface. It may be necessary to repeat the air
pumping a few times before the varnish surface hardens.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
A stream can be made using broken glass and some Duco or Testor’s
Airplane cement. The light blue glass from broken telephone line
insulators, light blue Mexican glass or other glass of a light blue
color may be used. Put the glass in a paper sack, then put that sack
into two more sacks. Put the sacks on a solid surface and break the
glass into small pieces by hitting the sack with a hammer.
Make your foreground with styrofoam or balsa wood chunks, covering the
material with the paper mache mix and working out (modelling) the stream
bed with the mix. Let the mache harden before completing the stream.
While the mix is still soft, push in weeds, cattails, any correct
streamside plants, making them from hemp rope or from other previously
described materials.
[Illustration: (unlabelled)]
ROPE STRANDS DIPPED IN GLUE OR PLASTER FOR CATTAILS....
ROCKS PLACED IN DRY STREAM BED.
When the stream bed is hard, paint the bottom with a blue paint; lighten
this blue color as you paint from the bottom toward the sides. Along the
banks of the stream, paint in a light brown color. Let the paint dry
completely. Squirt a small amount of Duco or Testor’s along the stream
bottom; sprinkle pieces of glass thickly in glue before the glue sets.
Push the glass into the glue to be sure it is well anchored. Squirt more
cement over top of glass until top surface looks the same as a stream
surface. Again, follow nature as closely as it is possible. Base your
stream direction, flow, eddies, and riffles on observed knowledge. Mix a
little talcum powder in some of the glue and stir quickly and hard to
get a froth. Use this white, frothy material along the part of the
stream surface that would be frothy. If you want the “water” to be
breaking over boulders in the stream bed, place pea-size gravel pebbles
in the stream bed at the same time you place the glass fragments.
Another method for a stream uses aluminum foil and light blue
cellophane. Using ordinary household aluminum foil, tear off enough to
cover the bottom of your stream area. Crumple the foil tightly, then
smooth it out and glue to the base with Duco, Testor’s, or Pliobond. Cut
a piece of blue-green cellophane to fit over the foil. Crumple the
cellophane tightly, then smooth out. Glue the cellophane to the foil
with Duco or Testor’s.
Finish both of the above stream methods by painting Elmer’s glue along
the banks and shore, covering the edge of the water area, then sprinkle
with sand, sawdust, or other texture, and complete the vegetation as
previously described.