Make a Fantasy Shadowbox Diorama
Painting and decorating the background

Paint the background - This is easy and fun. For my background I used a variety of dull colors. To get a real nice black brick look I applied black paint in a variety of places then I washed over it with a water soaked brush. This causes the cracks between the bricks to be dark and the surface of the bricks to be lighter.

I painted the bricks on the lower half a yellow brown color. This makes them more dungeon-like. Feel free to experiment and get creative. And if you are not using any cast brick segments but are using printed textures remember to experiment with them. You can make little columns out of wood or cardboard and cover them with the texture. They can be round or square. Have fun! You can even paint a scene right onto the background of the box. Just paint it all white first then paint right into it.

The top is shown here painted a yellowish color. It adds a nice touch to the top of the brick wall.

The Walls after painting Here are the walls after painting. They really came out great. You can see I also have an extra brick column that I will place in the shadowbox. This will add nice depth to the display.

Now let's add some detail to our walls and background. You can do this whether you used poured forms or you just used paper backgrounds. It looks great and makes all the difference in your shadowbox. This is where we add the moss.

Apply elmers glue to the wall in a moss like pattern. Make it look like moss ins growing up the walls. Then sprinkle your texture material right onto the glue. Remember: If you haven't purchased moss textures you can make some from real moss, scrapings from a sponge or styrofoam or even sawdust dyed green.

Here it is with the moss applied. It is a detail like this that really makes your shadowbox look great. Do the same thing on the floor with a floor like texture. I used a fine grain brown sand.

Continue with the tutorial