Punk Fairies Reading Zines in a Forest Diorama

A simple instructable about working with clay and paint, using a box from the thrift store to place all the elements in. I hope you try making this instructable. The fairies are some characters I created for a comic during my teenage years. (They weren't fairies back then... but now I'm into fairies, so they have wings lol).

• Paper and pencil/pen for a sketch
• A wooden box (I found the one you see in this project at the thrift store; I've seen similar box shapes for wine packaging and dominoes sets. With or without lid it's fine)
• Modelling paste . I used about 120 grams for this project (it's air-drying clay)
• Acrylic paint (or any other type that is suitable for clay)
• Paint brushes
• Mixers for paint
• A very thin permanent marker (any color)
• Flat surface for modelling
• Modelling tools, water also helps with modelling
• Clean, leftover pieces of plastic bags for the sculpted pieces to dry on
• Sandpaper
• Glue (I'm using the common white glue for school art projects, that will work for what I'm creating this with: clay, wood)
• Scissors, cutting knife
• Optional (if you have a hard time sculpting different shapes): cookie cutters with needed shapes such as trees, people, animals; glitter and other decorations; scraps of paper, fabric, for more colorful or fun 3D effects.

First things first, in order to achieve a good composition that you'll love at the end of the project, and because there is a background, then elements in the middle, the main ones and finally some that are even closer to the viewer of your diorama, it's easier if you do a sketch first. I used to love skipping this part but then you end up with a lot of stress and objects overlapping in a way you didn't want to, etcetera. So just sketch very loosely and if it works for you, also write down the elements that you want to include. After the sketch, because I knew it would help me, I also wrote down the order in which I am going to include the elements: the flat elements with less details first in the back, then slowly adding up until it's just the bush and tree at the front left and right sides of the diorama.

If there are some light colors on the background of your diorama, I recommend you first paint everything white, then slowly add layers until the desired colors are achieved. If it's a darker one, then there is no need. But lighter colors -at least using acrylic paint- are visible sooner with some white in the background first. I sketched the areas of mountains and grass first and then painted the sky, mountains, then grass, and all details in the end. Remember to extend the ceiling, floor, and sides of the painting to the sides of the box!

With the help of your first sketch, sculpt the clay into the shapes you need (using your hands, cookie cutters, and/or sculpting tools) in the sizes you'll need also (for example the bush i sculpted is bigger than the fairies, because it's meant to be closer to eye. Keep in mind that you will glue all objects to a flat surface. So depending on the object's location on the box, it may need to be flate on the back, or the sides. So that is why it's recommended that you sculpt on a table or cardboard, anything you have available so that you can sort of push or create with the flat back that won't be visible.

Between layers of paint from the background, you can instead of waiting without doing anything, begin sculpting all the pieces you want. I made small stones for the back, the fairies and just one wing (I will paint the wings on a future step), tree, bush, that kind of stuff. Follow the instructions on the package of your clay. Mine said to wait 24 to 48 hours before painting. You can sometimes sand the pieces if you're not fully satisfied with the result once they are dry. Sanding can also help figure out if some pieces need a bit of sanding before going further. Otherwise, the lid (optional) wouldn't close. I did sand a bit, and afterwards painted with acrylics once more. I decided that I wanted the fairies to be monochrome, so I painted all the piece in white and slowly added the bigger black details, moving onto the more difficult and delicate ones.

For this project, the tree and bush could be easily glued to the left and right lower edges of the box. So I did that first, which was also useful because those two pieces were intended to be glued only to the edges, so it takes more patience to set them in place, and check often that they don't move in an unconvenient way for your project. son once the glue fully dry on those, you can try to compose the scene using the center pieces (fairies, wing, zines). So before glueing the fairies on the box, use your permanent marker to gently draw where the wings will look good. Then paint them and their patterns using acrylic paint. After those layers are dry, you can glue the fairies and enjoy, because you're done! Once all paint and glue are dry, you can varnish (optional but recommended; one or two layers are enough).

I hope the instructions were clear! If not, or you have any suggestion about this, feel free to message or comment here. I don't bite :)