Chicago 2009
I thought it would be nice to share this diorama which was designed to enter in the following competition category at the convention. The diorama made it as far as Toronto, sadly that was the end of the trip and I could not make the convention that year and had to cancel my registration. It traveled back home with me a few months later.
I still use many of the pieces that make up this diorama as a backdrop for photo sessions. Below is a a description from the convention brochure detailing the diorama contest requirements.
Design Competition Diorama Design Category
| Colorful Dolls in a Monochrome World… |
| When the Fashion Royalty line was launched, the elaborate FR decors created by Alain Tremblay set the tone for the entire line. To pay homage to those early FR publicity campaigns of 2002 and 2003, in this year’s diorama design competition only one color is allowed, white!! Re-create the pure and elegant look of FR your way, but remember, every wall, floor, décor piece, accessory and what not must be white, no color allowed (except for the dolls)! This is meant to showcase your dolls and make them stand out, just like in the old ads! For your models, their hair, face paint and clothing style do not count individually. Go crazy, the girls can be as colorful as they want; the diorama is the important part, and everything should be white and come together as much as possible. No dimension restriction this year!! You can use any Integrity Toys dolls as models. Go wild, my friends! |
THE DRESSING ROOM
With a white background as required I choose to use dark haired girls with bright red lips along with one dark haired male. It's amazing how the different shades of white appear so different from one another. I kept the colour portion of the diorama to only red and black fashions. The dolls are leaning, or sitting to avoid the use of stands.
The packing job was well thought out, everything had to be protected from crushing or breakage while
traveling in my checked suitcase. I built a cardboard box to protect it and used the closets to hold the fragile diorama pieces. The dolls came with me in my carry-on bag - too risky in the checked luggage.
I made two open closets from wood, which was glued and nailed together, I am clearly not a carpenter
so eventually they fell apart (could be the plane trips) I couldn't find any hangers large enough for the Fashion Royalty clothes so I used some pliable wire, twisted them into a hanger shape and painted each one white.
I used Integrity Toys fashions and accessories along with a few of my fashions that were on hand to fill up the closets,
the goal to reveal the "W's'" for Jason where ever possible.
The chair in front is a gold painted metal chair, rather than permanently painting the chairs I made chair covers,
I did not realize when I made the chair covers that the top of the back was wider than the bottom of the back
and would not slide down over the chairs. Rather than start again I cut a slit in the back and added some gathered
silk dupioni. I use these chairs often in my doll pictures.
The pillars are table legs from a 2nd hand store purchase, removed from the table top they make nice columns, the original colour was a frosted pink which I painted white.
The window box was made out of a hard piece of package foam (I am a collector of small pieces that i think my be usefull sometime down the road),
I then made a cover for it along with the decorative cushions.
The floor boards where painstaking. I purchase two boards from Home Depot that are made of pressed wood, the lightest weight I could find about 1/4" thick. I painted them white (by the way I used the same white high gloss water based paint for everything) The hard part was painting the faux floor board look, using a light grey paint I first measured and drew the lines in pencil, then I painted the grey free-hand, it still didn't look realistic enough so with a bigger paint brush I lightly brushed lighter grey faux wood grain.
The fabric chaise lounge was made using fabric then stuffing it with foam. I couldn't figure out how to
make the back firm enough so it's a bit floppy looking. I still use it today.
The bird really belongs in the cage but Kyori just had to hold it.
v
My attempt at repainting - good thing no one got to see him - I will leave the repainting to the professionals :-)
How it was made
A step back to see the lamps and the light coming in from the basement window and into the
diorama window.
I started the construction upstairs and set it on the kitchen island so I could walk around and
access all sides of the display. Setting up pieces, then thinking about how I could create free-standing walls that required
minimal support. I removed a set of doors from a curio cabinet and painted them white.
For the walls I started with pre-cut foam core boards 1/4" thick. I then glued textured wall paper on the boards,
this created warping of the boards so I re-enforced the walls with strips of wood glued to the back.
This helped the warping. To keep the wall together I used white duct tape which was easy to peel
off for shipping and then add a new piece at the competition site.
The windows are just standing placing waiting to be added to a wall. I decided to cut a whole in a foam core board
slightly smaller than the frames to that I could glue them in place
Once I glued the window in place the foam core board started to warp
The fireplace is made up of the following
The mantel
two pieces of wood one smaller underneath, glued and painted white, it is not attached and
can be used with my other fireplaces
Sides and fireplace opening
I used hard foam from package about 1/2 thick
the inside of the corners have white duct tape behind acting like a hinge so that this piece can lay flat for shipping
the stoned work is made up of bathroom tile trim pieces from Home Depot painted white
The base
A few bathroom tiles placed underneath and not attached again for shipping
Here I moved the completed set up to my bay window where I hadn't figured out how to keep the walls
straight and block out the light in between sections
