Mad Clown Miniatures Diorama

[moonmin82]

In preparation for my table at Salute 2014 I am building my first diorama! The survival horror inspired corridor scene will promote some of my new resin releases, The Faceless.

Today I received a delivery of foamboard and set about building the basic structure. It's fairly sturdy and although not yet glued it fits together pretty well. Here's a first glimpse:



I've been thinking a lot lately and feel that without this forum and the encouragement I received during that first clown sculpt 2 years ago, I wouldn't be doing this now! I really love creating and the sculpting process brings me so much satisfaction. As a sentimental "thanks" to all at the forum I may throw in some additional insights to this diorama, which I will not share on other forums...

Back to my rambling ways!

[moonmin82]

Here are the basic components so far...



There is the basic front, back, sides and floor, like a five sided box. There is also a further "side" panel which serves as a support to the middle of the base. I also cut a further back panel with guide holes for the three "side" panels.

I printed off a number of patterns: wallpapers, doors, rugs and paintings (from the Resident Evil and Silent Hill video games). The wallpaper will ultimately be used in my diorama but everything else is for reference only:

[moonmin82]

Base is now fully assembled, using wood glue. Been working on a door and floorboards, built from plasticard:

[Zack Cart]

Huh. I'd missed this one. I love dioramas, so I'm interested to see where this goes. Keep us posted!

[moonmin82]

Getting there! 2.5 days left til I leave for Salute!

[Badsmile]

love the wallpapers!

[moonmin82]

Thanks Badsmile!

Here is the (almost) finished scene. There is a lot of tidying up to do but I was happy enough to display it at Salute! I'll take a better photograph once the job is done...

[Zack Cart]

Creeeeeeepy. I don't recognize the blue fellow in the middle, but he's one of yours still, yeah? Looks great!

[moonmin82]

Thanks! There's still plenty of work remaining but I'm glad you like it so far. The photo is pretty dreadful...

The sleepwalking child was sculpted especially for the diorama. You can see the green already in this thread:

http://minisculpture.co.uk/index.php?topic=1539.15

...but here it is anyway!

[moonmin82]

Another year and preparation for another Salute means another diorama! Well, i say diorama, but I'm not yet decided whether I'll be creating another full scene or just a few fun scenic items.

The theme for this year will be water effects, which I have been wanting to attempt for some time! One scenic item which I have already decided on is a creepy Hook-A-Duck. So to start off this new project, here are some tiny ducks... with hooks!



These ducks were created over three sittings. I made a basic armature from florist wire, in order to secure the body to the cork and to create a scaffold for the tail. In the first sitting I sculpted the body & tail and also made the wire loops for the hooks. Once cured, I added a blob for the head into which I inserted the base of the wire loop. In the third and final sitting I sculpted the head, beak and wings.

Once cured I'll remove the ducks from their corks and sculpt the (slightly rounded) underside. They will then be painted before fixing them to the water base. 

[moonmin82]

Another scenic item I am considering is a coconut shy, featuring shrunken heads filled with brain soup! Most of my plans feature water, blood and slime effects. As such, tonight was spent practicing David Soper's slime recipe:

http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/project-nurgle-part-7-adding-slime.html

I've got all the stuff I need, with the exception of glass beads, which are in the post:



...and here is my practice piece:



Uhu glue is tricky stuff... stringy and prone to air bubbles... I'll get my head around it!

[moonmin82]

Here is my slime and blood mix after two coats of paint mix. The third coat will use a little Tamiya clear Smoke to dull things down a tad.



I poured some Realistic Water into a vial (not liberated from the workplace, hmm hmm) and added a drop of paint using a wooden tooth pick (so as not to contaminate the paint!). I'm hoping that this will stop the compound from setting.

[Oddity]

That looks really cool! Might have to try that myself one day! :)

[Badsmile]

the blood is too red for my taste, add a very very little drop of black into the mix next time and it will look darker and way more realistic and gory. the nicest blood though imo is the almost dry stuff in the lid of the tamiya clear red color. can only use it for small parts obviously but it has that dark tone and still a certain transparency. as it is a bit dry you can pick it up with a toothpick and make very thin and nasty looking strings with it similar to the UHU glue.

[Oddity]

Normally I'd agree with you but in this case I think the vibrant colours go quite well with clowns colourful (though in this case evil) nature!

Hmm, I got those pots of Tamiya clears somewhere. Besides red the others I have might be good for some sort of alien slime/puss/blood! Arrgh, another thing on my list to try... :P