Irimali's Dioramas

[Totoro]

I'm experimenting with some different approaches for creating Araucaria and conifer trees first, mostly using wooden dowels, balsa, wire, and ground up things like tea, coffee and lichens.  (Hoping to move toward making most of my stuff out of things I can pick up in the wild.  As a biologist focusing on habitat restoration, I am fortunate to be able to scout for diorama material while on the job!)  So far, not horrible, but I'm sure they'll get better after a few tries. 

I've found plenty of YouTube tutorials for pines and spruces but none for Araucaria. I managed to make something reasonably close by unwinding the lower section of a cheap bootlebrush-style generic conifer from the architectural models section in an art shop, but the scale of it is only suitable for miniature sauropds, or could be background in a diorama with false perspective.
I'm currently looking for young cones suitable to use as cycad and tree fern trunks.

Yeah, I'm adapting methods shown by others for DIY miniature conifers to create miniature trees that at least kind of resemble Araucaria trees. 

Here's a first try at it:

https://i.imgur.com/LhRK60D.jpg  

https://i.imgur.com/Rhh2iKG.jpg

(Sorry for spamming your page, Irimali.  I'll create my own page tomorrow and post other images there.) 

[irimali]

I'm experimenting with some different approaches for creating Araucaria and conifer trees first, mostly using wooden dowels, balsa, wire, and ground up things like tea, coffee and lichens.  (Hoping to move toward making most of my stuff out of things I can pick up in the wild.  As a biologist focusing on habitat restoration, I am fortunate to be able to scout for diorama material while on the job!)  So far, not horrible, but I'm sure they'll get better after a few tries. 

I've found plenty of YouTube tutorials for pines and spruces but none for Araucaria. I managed to make something reasonably close by unwinding the lower section of a cheap bootlebrush-style generic conifer from the architectural models section in an art shop, but the scale of it is only suitable for miniature sauropds, or could be background in a diorama with false perspective.
I'm currently looking for young cones suitable to use as cycad and tree fern trunks.

Yeah, I'm adapting methods shown by others for DIY miniature conifers to create miniature trees that at least kind of resemble Araucaria trees. 

Here's a first try at it:

https://i.imgur.com/LhRK60D.jpg  

https://i.imgur.com/Rhh2iKG.jpg

(Sorry for spamming your page, Irimali.  I'll create my own page tomorrow and post other images there.)

Haha.  No worries.  I'm about to start posting some how to stuff, including araucaria trees, so it's definitely on topic spam

[irimali]

If you have any questions about how things were made, feel free to ask me!

I'm interested in how you made the plants, especially the fan palm leaves and all the ferns.

I'll start with ferns.  The fan palms are a totally different technique so that'll be a future post. 

[irimali]

Part 1-ferns/simple leaves

Materials:

Wire-I usually use between 24 gauge and 28 gauge.  Floral stem wire is great for cycad leaves and large ferns like tree fern leaves.  It comes with a green coating in straight pieces so it's easy to work with.  For smaller ferns/plant stems etc, I use 28 gauge annealed wire.  It's dark and not shiny so if a bit ends up showing here or there it's not too noticeable. 

Acrylic paint- lots of green, a little bit of other colors like brown, yellow, etc to mix in.  For leaves I always use the heavy bodied paint in the tubes.  The more liquid acrylics in bottles would probably spread out too much. 

Acrylic molding paste- basically a very thick non-pigmented acrylic.  Alternatively, mixing white glue with acrylic paint can work, but the results are more brittle.  Also, the glue will spread out some, so smaller details are more difficult. 

Parchment paper- you can find this in the grocery store or wherever you find baking supplies.

Icing tips- most craft stores in the U.S.A. have these with cake decorating supplies.  Pretty easy to find online too.  I mostly use the tiny round tip.  The hole is just a circle.  Different brands have different numbering systems.  I believe Wilton calls it a # 1 round tip.  There are leaf tips, though the smallest is way too large for small diorama work.  You can make your own by modifying a round tip but I'll get into that later.

Plastic sheets-I use sheet protectors from Office Depot.  You can experiment with whatever plastic you have lying around.  The important thing is that the dried acrylic paint peels off easily.  I tape these down to a board to make it easier to work with.  Sometimes it helps to rotate the board around and work from different angles.


Step 1- cut wires to desired length.  Be sure to leave an extra 3/4" / 2cm to attach your leaves to the rest of the plant.

Step 2- Make parchment paper cones.  Cut squares, then cut these in half diagonally.  The center of the longest side of the triangle will be the tip of the cone.  See pics.  Staple the cone to keep it from unrolling.

Step 3- Cut the tips off of 2 paper cones.  One cone goes inside the icing tip, which then goes inside the second cone.  Wrap a little masking tape around where the tip comes out to hold everything together.



Step 4- mix paint.  I start by mixing the green and any other colors together first to get the shade I want.  Then add an equal amount of molding paste.  You can estimate this, it doesn't have to be exact.  Sometimes if I want thinner, flatter leaves I'll mix in a bit of white glue, maybe like 10%.

Step 5- use a palette knife to fill the paper cone with the paint.  Fold over the ends of the inner cone, and then the outer cone, to make sure the paint doesn't squirt out the back. 

Step 6- Insert one of your pieces of stem wire into the hole in the icing tip.  Pull the wire back out.  It should be coated in paint.  Lay the wire flat on your plastic sheet and repeat until all wires are painted and stuck down flat.  Be sure to leave enough space between wires to add your leaves.



Step 7- Piping leaves.  Hold your paper cone so the tip is just touching the stem wire.  Squeeze a little blob of paint, making sure it connects to the wire.  Then pull the tip away slowly.  Continuing to squeeze while pulling away will make a thicker leaf, pulling away without squeezing will make a narrower leaf.  Moving the tip slightly from side to side in a zigzag while pulling back will make leaves with serrated edges.  This can take a little practice so don't be discouraged if the first ones aren't perfect.  You can always practice with brown paint first and use the messy ones for leaf litter.

   

This technique works pretty well for pinnate ferns, cycad leaves, and some tree leaves.  For smaller foliage, twigs can be piped on and allowed to dry, then leaves can be added. 

Plastic sheets can also be taped to cardboard and folded accordion-style (see bottom right corner of 3rd pic).  Piping the leaves on this will be harder, but the resulting leaves won't be flat.

Allow leaves to dry 24 hours before removing from plastic.  The surface of the paint will feel dry before the inside is ready.

[Totoro]

Looks like (painstaking, tedious) fun!   I can't wait to drain 5 espressos and give this a try!  Thanks for making time to post this.  Glad your creations are getting some more we'll-deserved attention. 

[irimali]

Part 2-assembling ferns/small plants and branches

Materials:

Finished leaves

Thread- green or brown or grey- whatever color the stem or twig will be.

Glue

Step 1- remove dried leaves from plastic gently by holding end of stem wire and carefully sliding a palette knife under until leaf comes free.

Step 2- Curve stem by wrapping around any cylinder handy- a spool of thread, glue bottle, jar etc.

Step 3- In one hand, pinch together the stems of 2 leaves and the end of your thread.  Put a bit of glue along the stem wires.

Step 4- With your free hand, wrap the thread around both stem wires, first up towards the the leaves and then back down part of the way. 

Step 5- add another leaf and a bit more glue.  Continue wrapping the thread around all stem wires, stopping every 4-5 rotations to add the next leaf. 

Step 6- after the last leaf is securely in place, pull the thread tight between the exposed ends of the stem wires and cut.  This will keep it in place while the glue dries. 

Step 7- bend the fern leaves into desired position.  Once the glue is dry, excess wire can be trimmed shorter and the remaining wire pushed into the dirt/ground of your diorama.  Or, the whole thing can be attached to a longer wire/dowel and used as the crown of a tree fern.



This technique of wrapping wires together with thread can be used to make tree branches as well.  Small twigs can be made with a few leaves and these can be added to medium sized branches which can be added together to make larger branches. 



For more 3-dimensional leaves, add an extra step between steps 1 and 2 above.  Flip your leaves over after peeling off from plastic sheet.  Pipe a line of paint from the center out to the tip of each leaf.  While the paint is wet, push the leaf down into the corner of a folded piece of cardboard so the leaves can dry at an angle.  Use tape to secure the leaf until it is dry.     

[irimali]

Looks like (painstaking, tedious) fun!   I can't wait to drain 5 espressos and give this a try!  Thanks for making time to post this.  Glad your creations are getting some more we'll-deserved attention.

It's pretty repetitive.  I've watched a lot of movies and documentaries and youtube videos while working. 

[Totoro]

Looks like (painstaking, tedious) fun!   I can't wait to drain 5 espressos and give this a try!  Thanks for making time to post this.  Glad your creations are getting some more we'll-deserved attention.

It's pretty repetitive.  I've watched a lot of movies and documentaries and youtube videos while working.

*Begins the hunt for acrylic molding paste and fine-bore icing tips*   

[irimali]

Looks like (painstaking, tedious) fun!   I can't wait to drain 5 espressos and give this a try!  Thanks for making time to post this.  Glad your creations are getting some more we'll-deserved attention.

It's pretty repetitive.  I've watched a lot of movies and documentaries and youtube videos while working.

*Begins the hunt for acrylic molding paste and fine-bore icing tips*   

https://www.dickblick.com/items/00628-1045/

[Justin_]

Thanks for all these tutorials. I'm going to try adapting your method using syringes instead of the icing nozzle.

[irimali]

Part 3-horsetails and leaf whorls

Materials:

Same as for ferns/leaves, also scraps of styrofoam, floral foam, anything you can stick painted wires into while they dry.  Modeling clay would work too. 

Cut wires, make parchment paper cones with icing tip, fill with mix of green acrylic/molding paste(steps 1-5 same as in part 1).

Step 6- Insert stem wires into cone through icing tip, pull out.  Instead of drying flat on plastic sheet, stick painted wires into styrofoam or clay to dry upright.

Step 7- Piping.  For horsetail leaf whorls, pipe a small dot on your plastic sheet.  Pull the paper cone back in a straight line while squeezing very gently.  Using that first dot as the center, pipe more straight lines of the same length radiating outward like spokes in a bicycle wheel.  Repeat, making leaf whorls of varying sizes.  I usually make between 5-10 for each stem.

Allow 24 hours to dry.

Step 8- Gently peel the dried leaf whorls off the plastic by sliding a palette knife underneath.

Step 9- use a needle to poke a hole through the center of each piece.

Step 10- Put a little dab of glue at the top end of a painted piece of stem wire.  Pick up one of the smaller leaf whorls. Push the bottom end of the wire through the center hole and slide the leaf whorl up to the top until it just touches the glue.  Add a bit more glue just underneath, and then another dab of glue a few millimeters further down on the stem.  Add another, slightly bigger leaf whorl, sliding it up from the bottom of the stem wire until it reaches the next dab of glue.  Secure with a bit more glue underneath and repeat.  When you have enough leaves, make sure all leaf whorls are sitting level and stick your horsetail back in the styrofoam to dry.



This technique can also be used to make various types of leaves, both for small ground cover plants or trees(if you have a lot of time and patience).     



Pics 1-3 are just testers, not any specific plant species.  If the leaves were a bit smoother it'd be a decent magnolia branch.
Pics 4-8 are process pics from the ficus tree from my Kirtland formation diorama.
Pic 9 oak seedlings.  Pic 10 podocarpus shrubs.  Pic 11 first year thistle-basal rosettes.  Pic 12 finished horsetails. 

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, seeing all of your process really makes me appreciate what you have done and what a great talent you got!
Awesome work!
Maybe if you have time, I would really love to see these dioramas you have inside the aquariums!😃

[irimali]

Thanks for all these tutorials. I'm going to try adapting your method using syringes instead of the icing nozzle.

I could see that working.  it would for sure be easier to refill than the paper cones.

[irimali]

Wow, seeing all of your process really makes me appreciate what you have done and what a great talent you got!
Awesome work!
Maybe if you have time, I would really love to see these dioramas you have inside the aquariums!😃

Thanks!  I've got pics of most of them here: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irimali/albums/72157667854233660

[irimali]

Part 4-basic conifer foliage using chenille yarn

Materials:

wire-cloth stem wire is the easiest to start with.  You can find this with floral craft supplies.

chenille yarn-green.  pretty easy to find online.  I've had some luck finding it at a specialty knitting store locally.  haven't seen it at Michaels or Joann Fabrics.  chenille yarn is fuzzy, and when dipped in a mix of water and glue and allowed to dry it'll take on a more spiky texture.

white glue

thread

marker-I tend to use the regular size sharpies for this.  Color doesn't matter, the marker is just a tool.  The rounded tip makes things easier(see photos).

Step 1- cut wires to desired length.  The entire branch can be covered in foliage, for example if you're making a norfolk island pine type tree, just make sure to leave a bit of bare wire to attach the branch to the trunk later.

Step 2- holding a piece of wire, put a little glue along the top.

Step 3- hold the wire so it rests on top of the marker with the glue facing up.  Using thumb, hold the end of the yarn down against the bottom of the marker.

Step 4- wrap the yarn under the marker and around over the top of the wire, making sure it touches the glue.

Step 5- make sure the yarn crosses over the top of the wire, then loop it back underneath the wire. 

Step 6- repeat step 4 until you get about 1/4 inch(5mm) from the end of the wire.  Each time around, the yarn should wrap under the marker, over the wire, back under the wire, and then down under the marker again. 

Step 7- bend the last little bit of wire backwards over the top to hold the yarn in place.  Slide the wire and yarn loops off of your marker and allow glue to dry before moving on to next steps.



Step 8-assembly.  When the glue is dry, cut yarn loops open. 

Step 9- dip yarn covered end of branch in mix of water and white glue.  squeeze out excess and separate strands of yarn either with a needle or by shaking/spinning branch.

Step 10- position branches to dry in desired orientation.  horizontal positioning will result in yarn drooping down, which can then be assembled to droop down or flipped over so foliage curves upwards.  branches can also be hung vertically-this works well for the topmost branches on a tree.

Step 11- wire can be curved/bent more with needle-nose pliers.

Step 12- assemble branches using same technique from part 2-starting with the topmost branch(or end of a tree limb) and wrapping thread around wire away from end.  Add branches as you go, applying glue as needed and wrapping everything together with thread to hold.

When dry, thread covered branches/trunks can be painted with gesso, covered in thick textured paint, paper mache, etc. 



So that little tree only has a couple branches but you get the idea.  Do that a bunch more times and put it all together and you'll have a decent sized shrub

[irimali]

Part 5- advanced conifer foliage

Here's some variations on the basic technique above to create a little more variety.

Materials:

chenille yarn-green

white glue

thread

wire-28 gauge annealed wire and 24 gauge stem wire-not cloth covered.

sharpie

Step-1 for each branch, cut 1 piece of 24 gauge wire(this will be the length of the exposed portion of the branch), and 1 piece of 28 gauge wire about 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) longer.

For Araucaria type conifers, make groups of equal sized branches, with each group being longer than the last group.

Step-2 hold the 24 gauge and 28 gauge wire together so the 28 gauge wire extends past the 24 gauge by about 1/2 inch(7mm) on one side and 1 1/2 inch(4cm) on the other side. 

Step-3 apply a bit of glue to the wires.  wrap them together with thread and tuck the loose end of the thread between the ends of the wires to keep the thread from unwinding.

Step-4 same as steps 2-7 in part 4. 

Hold wire (combined 24 and 28 gauge pieces) on top of marker.  Put glue just along 1 1/2 inch section of 28 gauge wire.  Wrap yarn under marker, over wire, back under wire and around marker again.  Continue until just before the tip of the wire.  Bend the last little bit of wire backwards over the yarn to hold it while the glue dries.  Slide branch off of marker.

Step-5  Bend yarn-covered section of wire in middle and fold back. 

Step-6  Cut yarn loops open. 

Step-7  Pinching both ends of yarn-covered portion of branch, twist a few times to make a tuft of foliage at end of bare branch. 

These will work for Araucaria Angustifolia, as well as some New Caledonian Araucarias, Neocallitropsis, probably a few others.  Dacrydium araucarioides. 

Step-8  Dip yarn-covered end in glue/water mix, squeeze out excess, spread apart yarn strands and hang to dry.



Step-9  Attach branches to trunk (can be wooden dowel or heavy gauge wire) by holding branches/trunk together, adding glue and wrapping with thread.  The 1/2 inch section of 28 gauge wire is enough to secure the branch, and thin enough that many branches can be added without making the trunk too thick. 

For araucaria trees (monkey puzzle, norfolk island pine, etc) attach branches in whorls-groups of equal sized branches connecting to the trunk at same height.  Leave some bare trunk space between whorls, and use longer branches for each successive whorl.  In the pics I've only made 2 whorls of five branches each to show how it all fits together.  For a realistic tree you'll want more.



Flat foliage variant:  Begin foliage the same as above, this time using short pieces of 28 gauge wire only.  After dipping in glue/squeezing out excess/picking apart yarn, dry foliage flat on plastic sheet.  When dry this can be assembled into branches to make various conifers with short needles or scales.



Examples:  1. Araucaria angustifolia, 2-3. generic prehistoric Araucaria that looks kind of like A. araucana and A. bidwillii, 4-5. some kind of scale leaved cheirolepidaceaen(extinct mesozoic conifer family) or cupressaceaen(extant family including cypresses which goes back to the late triassic), 6. norfolk island pine(A. heterophylla)

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

This is honestly the best, most realistic work i have seen so far. Looks like professional Movieset Building from another Time.

[Totoro]

Really amazing. Your examples help show that there are so many options for creating diorama features.  Of course, I expect few of us will have the patience and skill to pull off the results you achieve, but we can dream (and practice!). 

Thanks for sharing these insights!

[irimali]

Part 6- paper leaves. 

Materials:

newsprint

tissue paper

white glue

green acrylic paint

modeling clay

wire



Step-1  Fold a piece of newsprint in half and cut out your leaf.  I usually draw the more complicated leaf shapes before cutting.  To speed things up, you can cut through 2 or 3 pieces of paper at a time to make multiple leaves.

Step-2  Mold a piece of modeling clay into the shape you want your leaf to dry in.  For this palmetto, I made a shape like a papasan chair.  Make a variety of shapes, some more deeply concave for younger leaves, and some flatter for older leaves.

Step 3- Using a mix of green acrylic, white glue and water, paint the paper leaf.  Carefully flip it over and paint other side as well.
(note- if you do the leaf piping method from part 1-save any leftover paint/molding paste mix.  That can be watered down and used here so it won't go to waste.)

Step 4- Carefully lift up the leaf while it's still wet and push it into the clay.  Use sculpting tools or a needle tool to impress the veins.  Allow to dry before removing. 

Step 5- Carefully remove leaf from clay, using a small tool to work it loose if needed.

Step 6- put a bit go glue on a stem wire.  Push down onto bottom of leaf.  If the leaf flattens out don't worry, the wire can be curved once everything is dry.

Step 7- Paint a little glue/paint/water on the back of the leaf.  Place a few little pieces of tissue paper down to cover the wire and paint more glue/paint/water over them.  Allow to dry.

Thicker stems can be made by wrapping wire with thread, leaving just enough bare at one end to attach to the leaf.  Plants can be assembled the same way as ferns/tree branches from part 2.



Pic 1- finished palmetto.  Pic 2- pterospermites based on fossil leaf and reconstructed based on modern pterospermum.  Pic 3- hydrastis.  Ranunculaceae pollen is known from the cretaceous and according to genetic studies this is one of the earliest diverging genera.  Had to guess on ground cover plants as the Kirtland formation has a lot of tree leaf fossils but not a lot of herbaceous plant fossils.  Pic 4- symplocarpus-skunk cabbage.  Pic 5- WIP burdock for unfinished city diorama.  Pic-6 WIP hogweed for same. 

[irimali]

This is honestly the best, most realistic work i have seen so far. Looks like professional Movieset Building from another Time.

Thank you!  If only somebody would make a feature length stop-motion dinosaur movie