Toilet Roll Dioramas

Dioramas? An old colleague of mine was retiring years ago and I inquired what's he going to do with his time. He said, "I'll make dioramas," which I thought was an odd thing, but "different strokes for different folks." Fast forward, I was thinking about trying something different, and that old conversation came back to me, and I thought, "why not try it, but try making it really small." I starting thinking about what could I use, as I didn't want to use a shoebox, thinking back to my youth and the school projects I made in elementary school. Why not use toilet rolls? I had a whole bunch of them saved up for my kids to do projects with. This started me down the path of making them, but I also wanted a way to prevent the rolls from easily becoming deformed (circle to oval) and I wanted a way to show them, so out came tinkercad and the 3d printer. Later, I realized I should have a light source and found some nice fairy lights off Temu.

Toilet rolls (better if you have equal sized rolls) (you should know where to get these)

Laser cutter and lightburn or equivalent software (You could use an X-Acto knife, but it would take a lot longer to produce the cutouts needed for the diorama scene)

3d printer

Cardboard stock paper (I tried different colors, but end up coming back to black) (https://www.michaels.com/product/black-12-x-12-cardstock-paper-by-recollections-100-sheets-10683732?michaelsStore=7773&inv=5)

Double sided tape with dispenser (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BW3G5FY?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1)

Tweezers

Super glue (needed only if you want the light box to be enclosed on all sides of the toilet roll holder)

Fairy lights and batteries (https://www.temu.com/goods.html?_bg_fs=1&goods_id=601099514527828&_x_sessn_id=qyntlmyl7n&refer_page_name=bgt_order_detail&refer_page_id=10045_1684692362921_4tjfcaj53c&refer_page_sn=10045)

Glue gun

Since the dioramas depict something, it helps if you have an idea of what scene you want to depict. For me, I searched the internet for samples of things I wanted to depict, mixing and matching and using the drawing0 programs that are publicly available to get the images I wanted. You'll next need to determine how many layers you want and how you'd space them in the toilet roll and what the viewer would see.

I found that if I draw out the concept and indicate which element is in front, in the middle and in the background, that helps me organize the concept. Less is more in this area as too much detail could be visual clutter.

You'll need to size the images to the toilet roll size, and think about how the light would illuminate them. The more layers you have, then you have to consider how the light would illuminate them.

When cutting the shapes out, remember the toilet roll is circular and make allowances for that. Also, it would help if you thought about tabs on the images so that you can glue them to the sides of the toilet roll.

I created some stabilizer rings to help keep the toilet rolls round. I put one in the front (black) and one in the back (white). These rings keep the toilet rolls sufficiently round so that any deformation (which could impact the image integrity) is kept to a minimum.

Now comes the fun part! Put double sided tape on the tabs. You'll need to bend the tabs first and then apply the double sided tape. You'll then use the tweezer to place the tabbed item appropriately in the roll. I start with the element closest to the viewer and work from the far side of the roll because you'll want the tab to be hidden from the viewer (if possible).

I pulled together a couple of stabilizing holders on tinkercad to help organize the toilet rolls for viewing. The holder will only allow the toilet roll to be inserted so far. There are paper holder edging so that you can cut a square out of copy paper and insert it into the holder as a backing. This acts as a neutral backing so that the light is diffused and the viewer can focus on the image.

The attached files are made in tinkercad and saved as STLs. If you want to change the design, then import the STLs into your favorite CAD program and rework the file.

This is a simple process of determining what scenes you want to depict and in what order.

I originally carried a small light to illuminate the dioramas and I had to track the viewer's eye as the viewer went from one diorama to another. It occurred to me that I should just make a lightbox that's portable and started experimenting with different types of lights, and ended up using fairy lights. I liked the fairy lights because they were bright and compact. I used bright white, but you can decide what you want to illuminate.

Attached are STLs that you can print to use with the above holder. If you print them, use translucent PLA filament to allow as much background light through. The extra edge piece is only if you want to enclose the light box (4 sides) onto the toilet roll holder.

I used the fairy lights and determined that 3 lights for each toilet roll was sufficient. What I liked about he fairy lights is that the wire is just just coated and there is no other insulation. This allowed me to pull three lights together for each toilet roll illumination and twist the wires on either side of each light. It's important that you note where the beginning of the fairy lights are that attach to the switch as you'll want to determine switch placement first and then run the wire in the lightbox accordingly. You'll have extra wire at the beginning, so use the glue gun to tuck that wire under the battery case, and glue the battery case (with the extra wire) on the lightbox so it's comfortable for you to hold the entire unit. You can snip off any remaining lights you don't use.

It's important to periodically test the lights to be sure you didn't break the wire connections as you twist the wires and tuck them into the lightbox.

In gluing the lights into the frame, deposit a healthy amount of glue at the center of each area where the toilet roll would illuminate, and slowly work your way around the frame, allowing sufficient time for each dollop of glue to dry.

The project is compact and you can make a bunch of them whenever you get into the mood.

As for upgrades, I was thinking of modifying the holder to allow units to be stacked. Also, I was thinking about using selectable multicolor lights. The revised lighting would help to create moods for each diorama. Finally, I was thinking that with 9 rolls per unit, you could depict a story in 9 rolls. This would be wonderful for kids to follow and see the scene as you story tell.