Proposed Article
Dioramas-art-craft

The Art of Dioramas

An exploration of handmade miniature worlds: the history, art, and craft of dioramas, tiny scenes in a snowglobe, a box, or a bell jar.

Storming the gift shop photo by Noel Cabacungan

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The miniature world, in miniature!

In this survey we’ll take a look at the history and origins of dioramas, check out some of the amazing and complex things artists have done with the medium, and survey some of the smaller and simpler work by crafters.  Finally, we’ll brainstorm about the kind of tiny scenes we could make, quickly and easily, ourselves.

bottle-miniature
Working in the candy mines! Photo by Andreas Göllner

Message in a bottle

We can build little scenes quickly and easily, using modelmaking gear, scale train materials, display containers like bottles, snowglobes, bell jars and vitrines, and a bit of imagination.  We can base our scenes on fairy tales, historical events, current events and pop culture.  We can end up with an admirable shelf objet, conversation piece or giftable tiny artwork.

Handmade-miniature-Suitcase
Scene in a suitcase, perhaps? Concept by DarkmoonArt_de

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Related products

Want to tinker right now?  Check out some useful tools and materials for modeling:

dremel-lite
tools

Dremel Lite

Our recommended multitool.  Small, lightweight, cordless multi-tool, yet powerful enough for lots of smaller projects.  It has a high-quality battery, too.

tools

Dremel drill bit set

A nice four piece drill bit set of good sizes for light-duty modding and crafting.

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