Ideas for making a diorama

Hi everybody!!!

Several members of the STS forum make dioramas or like to create them.

I thought it would be a good idea to create a topic in which we could show how can someone make a diorama from scratch, which materials to use, what kind of paint, how to create rocks, lakes, plants and trees.

To inform other members about various sites which sell materials for dioramas or sites which show you how to make a diorama.

Ideas on how to preserve a diorama and how to protect it from dust and humidity.

We all love our figures and we would like them to be in a diorama which resembles their natural habitat.

Every animal figure can be more realistic if we put beside it a rock or a plant. The question is how can we make them?

It doesn't have to be a huge project, even the smallest rock could give the rest of us an idea of how to create small things for our dioramas.

Any ideas for creating dioramas could prove helpful to all of us!!!

Phil would be a great one to comment on this. I hope some day to make a very large African diorama. However, I have made a much smaller scale with Sable antelope. They typically live in sparse woodlands. The male has a harem he defends against other bulls. That is somewhat what my diorama shows. Items I used are trees and shrubs from hobby stores used for train dioramas. I was lucky to get Acacia tress. I also used fake plastic plants from the dollar store and use the top parts of them to look like bushes and large flowered shrubs. I also use the green grass roles used for train sets and then sprinkle on different shades of foliage. I put it on a foam board so that you can stick things easily in and they stand. To keep anything from coming off of the diorama I spray it with hairspray which keeps all the loose foliage on. Here are some examples:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks Shawn, I am very glad you like my work, as for my part I just love to make the plants and landscapes for dioramas as much as the animals themselves.

To answer some of your questions, I have done several step by step diorama builds, the most recent being here:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I plan to do a step-by-step tree tutorial as well.

My dios are done from scratch, first I pick a habitat or scene I want to recreate, than I cut the base out of wood in the size I want. Like Shawn I use foam to build up the topography, you could easily use other materials but try to keep it light, things like clay, wood, or real rocks work but the cost of purchased materials and the added weight make it impractical to use.

Once this is done I cover the landscape with some sort of material that will be the "dirt", I use paper mâché ow plaster cloth, both are very inexpensive, easily shapable and dries hard but very lightweight. At this point I paint the whole thing a earth tone to give it an even base to build on.

I won't go into each of the landscaping details here, look at several of my dio posts or PM me if interested but at this point I start to sculpt the rock work, trees and bushes, any grass or dirt areas as well as stream banks. I use many different types of materials, I have posted lists of what I find works for me in other posts but let me just say there are no right or wrong materials, use what you like and are comfortable working with.

Here is a partial list of materials and how I use them
Durham's wood putty-tree trunks and rock work
Paper-palm fronds, smaller plants and flowers
Sculpy polymer clay-figures, smaller trunks and branches, rock work, larger leaves and flowers. Clay could be used to sculpt just about any part of a diorama.
MagicWater-water features, streams and ponds
Bleached horse hair and nylon yarn-grasses and fine details

This is far from a complete list but it should give you a good start on ideas for which materials you can consider working with.

I will end here so everyone isn't overloaded with info but in the next days I'll respond with other procedures and materials I have found to be best for me.

Philter4 wrote:

I plan to do a step-by-step tree tutorial as well.

Oh! That would be brilliant, I'm really looking forward to it.