Posted by DeeinNJ on August 19, 2008, 10:42 am
Administrator Dee

Hi, gang It’s a Copy Cat Contest! Today I’m kicking off a little contest, so I hope you diorama experts and novices alike will get inspired, get motivated and get going in whipping up a Copy Cat diorama! For this contest, I am asking contestants to choose a home décor catalog or magazine photo, then create a diorama that is inspired by the photo. It doesn’t have to match the photo exactly, but the more it does, the cooler the results. I’ll award a great little prize package to one person who will be chosen at random from among all those who enter the contest. So, even if you don’t have lots of time or talent, it’s your effort that counts and everyone has an equal chance of winning. Of course, those with the most awesome entries will get oohs and aahs from fellow board members and will have their stellar work displayed in our Diorama Divas gallery at the top of the board! Also, even though winning a prize is cool, the best part is all of the wonderful ideas we will all get for creating realistic dioramas! You will have about a month to search out an inspiration photo, gather what you need and set up your diorama. That’s plenty of time (believe me!). For today’s example, after finding my inspiration photo, it took me about a half hour to collect everything up and make a few things, and another 30 minutes to set it all up and photograph it. Of course, I did this all YESTERDAY, so I was under a bit of a tighter deadline than you will be, so I KNOW in a month, you can do even better!! Below is MY copy cat diorama and how I threw it together. Afterward, I’ll give more details and tips for the contest. OK – Here is my inspiration photo from a West Elm catalog. I love this catalog so much that I would buy everything they have, but most of my money goes to buying dolls, so I can’t (sad, but true). And here is what I whipped up using pieces I had or could make: When I looked at the catalog photo, I felt I had props to recreate most of this stuff. The only things I gave some thought to were the odd-shaped lamp, the floor mirror, and the coffee table. The idea for the lamp came to me while visiting the bathroom… really! I was changing the roll of toilet tissue and there was still a little bit of paper left on the roll. I looked at it and thought it was just the size tube I’d been looking for to make that lamp shade! I thought about making a base from a large wooden ball, then I rediscovered this little vase on my shelf in the guest room. When I put them together, I had my lamp! Now, I COULD have recovered the cardboard tube with some nice handmade paper… but who has time? Not me! I tried using a real mirror to match the one in the photo, but I didn’t have anything long and skinny like that. I also didn’t want to ruin one of my good mirrors by adding the brown around it. So, I cut some brown card stock and found some sticky-back foil paper. I scored and folded back the sides of the brown card to give it some depth and just leaned it up against the wall of my room. The twig is a Tiger Lily stalk I yanked out of my front garden (no time to hunt for the perfect twig when you are on a deadline) The coffee table is made from a box that was part of a giveaway at a previous FR convention. I believe it had a luggage tag in it. (The box was too cool to toss). I only discovered this box when I was searching through the drawer where I keep my miniature art prints that I wanted to use for the fireplace mantel. When I found this box, it was a Eureka! moment that solved my coffee table dilemma. I knew a table base could be made from one of those brown accessory drawers from a Fashion Royalty doll box. The little accessories and Barbie & Rement. The pillows on the couch worked well. The quilted pillow was made by Maryann Roy and the smaller beaded pillow is from the FR Lounger accessory set. The room set is my Room with a View (Clea Bella). I just tacked up white paper with magnets and added the magnetic baseboards and corner posts. I used a piece of Styrofoam to add depth to the fireplace, which I made by printing a fireplace onto paper, then adhering it to cardboard and creating a mantel from black card stock (I covered this in a Diorama Discussion a few years ago). Since I already had this fireplace, I didn't bother to make a new one that matched more closely with the look of the original. Although the fireplace is only two dimensional, the mantel is 3D, so I can put things on it. The framed prints are photos I cut from a catalog, the little vase is Rement, and I found the orange vase in my daughter’s Barbie stash, I just added the greens. I didn’t have a white vase, so I figured orange looked cool. I made the striped print to match the original by using some cardstock and markers, then stuck a magnet on the back so I could hang it up. I didn’t have an orange throw and no time to make one, so I just found this Randall Craig wrap and tossed it on the FR Loft Collection couches. Notice that the second couch is a bit deflated because I was too lazy to stuff those cushions into the cushion covers! The rug is made from bed linens that I turned upside down. I added a piece of handmade paper to add more color. Since I didn’t want to spend the time to create the woodpile from the inspiration photo, I just used a wooden sculpture from a set of dollhouse miniatures to fill the space instead. In this last photo of the room, I added a piece of art I had because, although the inspiration photo has no art here, I felt like it was kind of bare and needed some color pop! OK, so there you have it. As you can see, my room isn’t exactly like the inspiration photo, but you get the idea. I hope you will enter our Copy Cat contest and be ready to post next month. Here are more details: • Follow the instructions mentioned at the top of this post • You can put dolls into your photos if you want, but they aren’t needed • Your diorama must be scaled for dolls as we recognize them on the board. In other words, no 1/12 or dollhouse-scale rooms. Kelly-size, Barbie/FR size and Gene/Tonner/Syb size are fine. • You can do a full-blow room or just a little vignette, just so long as your entry mirrors your inspiration photo. • On September 16, post your photos under the Diorama Discussion thread. You will have til Midnight Divas time to post your entries. • Be sure to include your name, e-mail, inspiration photo, and your recreation photo(s). If you can, share with us where your inspiration photo came from. Also include a few details about how you made your entry. You don’t have to go into all the detail that I just did, but for things of which the source may be vague, let us know where you got it or how you made it. • You can post as little as one photo of your diorama or several, but keep them within the same post. • You can post as many different entries as you want (if you are feeling creative), but each person will only be entered into the contest once. • A random drawing from all those who post entries will determine the winner. Winners will be announced the day following the contest. • The winner will receive a prize package that will include cool goodies which I will announce at a future date prior to the contest. I am still working on adding to the package… stay tuned! Alright, looking forward to seeing your awesome creativity on September 16. Til then, DeeinNJ

Link to contest Entries and Winners HERE.