Irimali's Dioramas

[RobinGoodfellow]

I really liked your diorama (and voted for it  ): a lot of talent here.... Congrats 

[Polihierax]

Stunning! It looks like you expended a great but worthwhile effort.

[Kayakasaurus]

Great job! And those sauropods look very promising, they show a lot of character, I love the different shapes. Keep up the good work! I also voted for you.

[PaleoMatt]

Your dioramas are great

[Dinomike]

Wow! The amount of work and care you put into your plants is impressive!  Well done!

[irimali]

Your plants looked so good in the photo I think some people may have thought you bought ready made foliage. Hopefully now people will appreciate the amount of work that went into it.
In 17 years working in museum model shops I never saw anyone use your method to make foliage, acrylic/glue on plastic sheet. Did you come up with that yourself? We did almost all of ours with leaves made from clear plastic sheet, formed on a vacuum form machine, cut out, glued on wire covered with heat shrink tubing, then airbrushed. Before that method came along they were done in wax. Your methods of making your plants and your dinosaurs are truly genius and accessible to anyone.

Thank you.  We'll see in a few years how well these leaves hold up.  I'm hoping they don't curl/droop/break.  I did come up with it myself, not exactly sure when the idea came to me.  I tried with straight acrylic paint but it was too stretchy and hard to peel off in one piece.  There was definitely a lot of experimenting to get it working. 

[Jetoar]

One of the best dioramas that I have seen  .

[earth108]

Outstanding project and techniques! I didn't even hesitate to vote for this diorama. The tuojiangosaurus are very unique. Thank you very much for sharing.

[Georassic]

I am blown away that you created all of this yourself. As someone else said, I assumed the plants were all bought that way, or at least had minimal modification.

If you ever decide to offer some of your plant life on the Classified thread, I may be interested.

BTW, I use the same system of plants secured into Styrofoam ground with wire/nails in my windowbox diorama, but your preliminary in-progress photos are more realistic and better than my finished display.

[Bokisaurus]

Amazing work, well deserving of the win!
I hope that you finish those sauropod herd, they look amazing! Very well done, You got my vote btw

[docronnie]

I also voted for your amazing work. I did not vote last year, but would have definitely voted for yours.

I watched someone on You Tube on how to make trees and bought the materials, but I was not able to make them. He was teaching wires, styrofoam base, wooden rods, glue and green sprinkles (can't remember the name, which I bought from a craft store) etc. But his trees are not prehistoric ones that I want for my dinos.

When I saw your trees, I was wondering if you bought them or made them. They are just the trees I'm looking for. As you said they may not hold for long, but knowing now how you made them .... WOW! Really ingenious and creative, specially the glue/acrylic leaves and the green chalk powder!

Thank you so much for sharing!

[irimali]

It's been a while since I've posted.  Been Working on some permanent set-ups. I actually put my pair of Tuojiangosaurus in their new home a couple months ago but I haven't been able to get great photos because of the reflections off the glass.  I need a studio with all black walls.  Until then though, I have a new one to show.  Beipiaosaurus.

Here's some WIP shots:





There's no skin texture except for the hands and the feet because it's getting covered in fuzz.

Close-up of the hands.  The fingers are just wire wrapped in string and the claws are cardboard, all covered in gesso.  I did the gesso thick on  the claws to make them 3-D.

[irimali]

Underpainting.  I did this to get an idea where to glue down each color of fur.



The fuzz is dyed wool fiber, glued down in layers.  There were 2 shades  of green, 2 shades of grey and some brown.  Couldn't  find any black so in some places I darkened it with sharpies.

[irimali]

In its new home, gathering dried horsetails for a nest:

[irimali]

A few more:

[Libraraptor]

Great, work! What a beautiful dinosaur, what a beautiful enviroment! What a cool idea for displaying it!

[Lanthanotus]

While personally I had made the Beipiaosaurus a bit less furry, I find your artwork really astonishing. It looks like dwarfed, living animal just doin' it's business. Great idea to have that diorama in a maintenance (/cough dust) free 360° tank. And your artificial plants are top notch, thanks for sharing the look behind the scenes. Need to try to make some like these somewhen in the near future.

[Patrx]

Beautiful diorama! Very naturalistic, like a tiny piece of the Mesozoic behind glass.

[Halichoeres]

Gorgeous setup, well done.

[AcroSauroTaurus]

That looks great! And its a cute little Beipiao too.