A little digression. Look, a box with my mark on the lid. What could it hold inside?
Parallel with the mandrake form the last post, I worked on a wee diorama unconnected to the Gardens of Hecate project. The idea was for it to be very small and easy to carry around, so I can always have it with me in my bag to show it to people when the question "So, do you have any hobbies?" comes up. I find it excruciating when I have to describe this obscure hobby to someone who's never heard of anything like it, and most of the time I can't tell if they even got the idea in the end. Having an example to show them would make it so much easier for me.
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Parallel with the mandrake form the last post, I worked on a wee diorama unconnected to the Gardens of Hecate project. The idea was for it to be very small and easy to carry around, so I can always have it with me in my bag to show it to people when the question "So, do you have any hobbies?" comes up. I find it excruciating when I have to describe this obscure hobby to someone who's never heard of anything like it, and most of the time I can't tell if they even got the idea in the end. Having an example to show them would make it so much easier for me.
For that reason I came up with this scheme of building a diorama inside a tiny box. It took me some more time to figure out what kind of scene I would be doing in the first place. After tossing around a couple of ideas, I settled for an image from one of my own original tales: the story of the demon critter Krastačar.
He's an impish creature with the skin of a frog, a rat's tail and a long nose. In the story he causes some trouble to the village of Vranobor. The tale also mentions that he often visitis the great forest Rogorija, where he enjoys one of his favourite pastimes: he catches "squirrels, rats and mice and then ties all their tails together in one big knot."- a reference to the rat king phenomenon. I reckoned the diorama could show him chasing a mouse through the forest, since that's nicely dynamic and I already had a miniature rodent and a nurgling in a convenient pose to represent the imp.
He's an impish creature with the skin of a frog, a rat's tail and a long nose. In the story he causes some trouble to the village of Vranobor. The tale also mentions that he often visitis the great forest Rogorija, where he enjoys one of his favourite pastimes: he catches "squirrels, rats and mice and then ties all their tails together in one big knot."- a reference to the rat king phenomenon. I reckoned the diorama could show him chasing a mouse through the forest, since that's nicely dynamic and I already had a miniature rodent and a nurgling in a convenient pose to represent the imp.
Enough rambling, here it is- the pocket diorama:
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| The inside. In the lid I pasted a piece of yellowed paper with some of the actual text of the story, and a stylized toad painted on top of it. Krastačar hatched from an egg of a toad. His father was a three-legged rat... |
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| The diorama itself is 30mm wide, 45mm tall, and just a bit over 20mm deep. And it's basically a 3D illustration. : ) |
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| Here in the background is a map of the story, which I made to be able to refresh my memory right before telling it. |
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You're a bloody genius!
ReplyDeleteThat is just brilliant. This would make a great gift for a loved one, you have given me an idea! Thank you ;)
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how much I love this, I was struck by this wonderful piece!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful work!
Thanks, all three of you! : )
ReplyDeleteThat has to be my favorite work that you've showed here to date. I love the idea of 3d diorama that looks like an illustration from a folklore tale. The execution is absolutely amazing, love it!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely little piece.
ReplyDelete