Reflections

At this stage, a reflection of the direction that this blog is going, is in order.

Although I started with fully appreciating the artistic merits inherent in zinnfiguren flat figures, and was primarily interested in using them centre-stage in dioramic displays, it is pretty apparent by now that the dioramic display is the endpoint here. I am discovering that, far from being fettered solely to zinnfiguren, I can create more personally satisfying dioramic displays either with or without zinnfiguren.

Lately, many of my boxed dioramas have been featuring picture cutouts which allow more latitude in terms of subject matter. What I appear to be pursuing for now is a hybrid artform of various traditional handicrafts - zinnfiguren, silhouettes, decoupage, pop-ups, toy theatre, shadow-boxes, paintings and so on.

I hope you have been enjoying the ride so far. Read on.

The Titanic 3

I painted the background and ice bergs. The pieces are arranged and framed before final painting.

Dark background with white ice bergs create a dramatic composition

test frame to ensure that all elements can be seen

More Egyptians

At this stage, I am organising the sets. I will give the historical context later.

Nefertiti, Caesar and Cleopatra, Egyptian workers

Mummification

Pharoah inspecting building works

Gifts for Pharoah

Stocktaking of the Egyptians

I have quite a number of Egyptian sets and I continue to update the painting on these sets in-between the other projects. In this way, I build up a visual understanding of Egyptology and can start to mix and match the sets to suit suitable displays.

 I prefer to paint the Egyptians in a darker shade, to distinguish them from the Ptolemaic rulers such as Cleopatra.

Nefertiti riding out of El-Armana

Egyptian Dance

Pharoah Hunt, Egyptian Rulers

Three river crafts obtained from Western Miniatures

Baby Moses with river craft and workers from various sets.

The Titanic 2

I solved the problem by removing the mast and rigging, and replacing these with metal tubing and thin wires glued into place.

The Titanic posed against iceberg cutouts

The base was raised, basic wave forms rippling away from the sinking ship was created.

Close-up showing the life boats pulling away from the Titanic.As the oars were also removed, these would be replaced with wire.

The Titanic

I decided to do the Sinking of the Titanic.

A suitable picture of the Titanic was selected, pasted on cardboard, and cut out. The scene was framed to test for composition.

At this stage, it was problematic on how to cut around the mast and rigging to remove the printed background.

The Good Ship Lollipop

Started on another mid-size diorama to feature another seascape. This gives me a broad canvas to paint the background.

The box case

The cardboard folded to form the background

The basic background