A Wildlife Diorama - African Oasis
This is a terrific diorama made by Heather D. My thanks to her for the advice and the pictures of this wonderful diorama. She also wants to give thanks to Ray for his guidance on this project. For me this is a beautiful example of how to compose a diorama and make it very pleasing to the eye. Pick an interesting subject, arrange the components in a pleasing way, add some very realistic details and put it on an attractive base. Well done Heather! If you are considering making a wildlife diorama you might want to follow this process. It gives you a great diorama that you can be proud of displaying.
Here Are Heathers Tips on how she made this Wildlife Diorama:
Note from Will: I have some resources for where you can buy some of these products like the trees at the bottom of this page -Amazon.com)
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The base was made by layering 1/4" scenic foam (2 pieces, 3 for the small hill). I glued them
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together with a small amount of wood glue, and carved it with a hobby knife when dry. I set the
trees (3" acacias by JTT ) in the foam with a small
amount of glue. Then I applied hydrocal over the foam, plastering over the base of the trees. I
painted the base with acrylic paints, using a small amount of slow dry to aid in blending.
The sand & flocking were applied directly into the wet paint. (If you blow on the flocking while
still wet it'll stand up a bit.) I gathered clumps of the tall grass and secured with a small amount
of super glue in the middle. When the glue dried I cut the grass in 1/2, then trimmed each 1/2 to
the desired length. I mixed multiple colors of flocking, grass and sand to avoid a monotone look.
(On amazon.com):
- Woodland Scenics - 1/4 in. Foam Sheet (1 Sheet)
- Lightweight Hydrocal
- Field Grass, Light Green
- Sand Fine Turf Shaker, Yellow Grass
- flocking Static Grass Flock, Light Green
The elephants are from Corvus Belli's 15mm ancient series,
Corvus Belli 15mm Numidians: Elephant w/ Mahout (1).
They were painted grey, followed by a generous coat of Citadel's 'Devlin Mud' wash. The birds are HO scale pigeons by Musket Miniatures
The water was created by applying several layers of acrylic glazing liquid Liquitex Glazing Medium 118ml (4 oz)(I used an eyedropper and spread it with a toothpick). I topped this off with Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel Medium 473ml (16 oz)
to simulate movement. The water spray was also created with the gel medium. I anchored several pieces of monofilament to the trunk with the gel. Once dry I used toothpicks to heavily coat them, and a clean toothpick to 'fray' it at the edges.
The title plates were made by a local engraver's shop, and rather inexpensive (around $10 for both).
I made this diorama for my mom, who loves elephants. I love the idea of giving small dioramas as
gifts. I can work on a variety of different subjects, without the need for an extra bedroom to store
my work.
Special thanks to Ray for his guidance on this project.
Products for this diorama on Amazon.com
Scene-A-Rama Desert Oasis Diorama Kit
Suggested tools for building: scissors
JTT Makes Some Amazingly Beautiful Trees:
Here is a complete listing: JTT Miniature Trees on Amazon.com
Corvus Belli 15mm Numidians: Elephant w/ Mahout (1)
- Index
- What is a diorama?
- A short history of Dioramas
- Diorama Books
- Painting Miniatures
- Diorama Ideas
- Diorama Examples
- Diorama Making for the artist
- Diorama Making supplies & Tools
- Dioramas by Web Visitors
- Printable diorama box
Types of Dioramas to Make
- How to make a Paper Mache Diorama
- Diorama inside a lightbulb
- Insect Maker Diorama
- Mississippi River with Indians
- Really creative shoebox diorama
- Dinosaur Diorama
- Make a secret diorama
- Wildlife Diorama (African Oasis)
- Firefly Diorama with real blinking lights
- Rainforest Diorama
- Ocean Diorama
- Shadowbox diorama
- Make a shoebox diorama
- Massive Castle Diorama
- Diorama Examples
- Polymer Clay
- The Battle of Thermopylae Spartan Warrior Diorama - A tutorial
- HALO Diorama
- Wizards Tower Foam Diorama
- Cemetary Diorama
- Trench Warfare
- Simple Nature Diorama
- Water Woman Diorama
- WW1 Diorama submitted by a web visitor
- Christmas Holy Land Diorama submitted by a web visitor
- New Section: Making WW2 Dioramas and Miniatures
- Castle Siege Diorama project
STORES
- Diorama Making Books
- Diorama Kits
- Scene-A-Rama diorama Kits
- Plastic Scale Dinosaur Diorama Kits
- Harry Potter Dioramas
- Diorama Foam
- Conflix Medieval Buildings for Dioramas and wargaming
- Tatebanko Paper Dioramas
Plastic Models
- Tiger Tank 1/72 Scale
- Sherman Tank 1/72 Scale
- How to make plastic models: Tips, Tricks and techniques
- Painting Miniature German Soldiers (1/72 Scale)
- Painting Miniature American Soldiers (1/72 Scale)
Check out the Diorama and Miniature store
*Short Diorama Tutorials*
- How to make snow for your diorama
- How to Make realistic tufts of grass
- How to make trenches
- Creative terrain shell making
- How to make Miniature Trees
- How to Make rubber rock and wall molds
- Motorize a drawbridge on your diorama
- Using foam to make a diorama
- How to make good looking rubble using cork
- Creative Shoebox Diorama Ideas for School
- A foam based diorama with water from start to finish
- Some great WW2 diorama trench making tips with video
- How to make plastic models- Tips tricks and techniques
OTHER PROJECTS
Make a cardboard Samurai Sword
Make a Cardboard Medieval Shield
How to make a fantasy shadowbox
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Kalif Publishing and StormtheCastle.com
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