Since last year's Custom Celebration, I have been inspired to explore the shoebox diorama further. Since most of the commissions are drying up, and I can't seem to move the larger reneged works, maybe a foray into these compact little worlds may spark interest.

Many of the ones I am doing are a "thank you" to some, or very late belated gifts to others. The wheels turn...slowly, but they turn.



First up is drbindy's nightclub lounge. D sent me an image of a type of bar he was looking at in a comic panel and I thought, maybe I could pull one off in a shoebox. The glasses are actually the top of that slave outfit Leia's flashlight thingie, and the shot glass shooters are acutally the post of a D&D flying creature, just sectioned off for separate glasses.

There is a metal plate with a cut in half 1:18 scale lime and lemon, also the knife. I also have a 1:18 glass of Guiness, for his figure to hold, made from the lower half of that Princess Leia's flashlight accessory.



Next up is DocRob's birthday gift. Rob mentioned to me last year that he wanted to create for himself a type of Elven ruins for his fantasy figures, so keeping that idea in my noggin, here it is. The included Dryad is a figure that he was attempting, got a bit frustrated, and I asked if I could take a crack at her.



Next up, is a redo. My Japanese period mountain forge had been destroyed(a leak in the roof water damage), so I salvaged all the period pieces and parts of the wall. This time, I placed it in a shoebox and added more period pieces, such as the slag well, the cooling well, and most important, the bloody anvil! Also, for effect, I cut off a Japanese style wine jug from a DreamBlade figure, and placed it on the treestump with the forge pliers. The forge itself, glows orange under blacklight.

Incorporating the box top into the diorama itself affords not only more space, but allows me to protect these pieces for shipping to their final destinations.

Next up, will be DarkHorse's "thank you", and JFAK075's long belated gift.
Two, that I am really proud of. Also in the works are using these memory boxes to place and house my Morrowind diorama needs. Like the coming Daedric shrine I am working on while the others are drying and setting.

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Excellent work, now we need a figure in there and it's complete.

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The fun thing about there not being figures in the shots is you could nearly trick someone into thinking that was a set for a TV show or something, especially that first one. Great work Cap.

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HOT DAMN!





Soon as I saw the pic, I was like "no way..." then I saw the title of the pic indicating my sweet little name on it. Speechless.

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These are awesome. I can't tell you how cool it is to see you getting inspiration from the Custom Celebration and running with it. I mean Forrest Gump running and running and running with it. One day I will revisit my failed shoebox dio attempt.

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oh yeah, and I was so busy drooling on the pic you made for me that I forgot to comment by saying expect the same exact reaction from Rob to his - pure win, and the mountain forge probably takes the cake. So creative and so unique.

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Cap, your work always amazes and inspires me.

While these may be small in dimensions, they're huge in terms of potential play/display value.

When I had the giant Joe Rex center you made for me out for the JCA dio shoot recently, I spent half the time marveling at how many different workable shooting angles I had and how I could make it seem even bigger than it actually is.

You really can do magic.

Your work is amazing as always Cap. You continue to set the bar with dios.

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Thank you guys, it means a lot that I can hope to surprise you all occasionally.

The shoebox dio was actually one of the greatest ideas you (pluv and co.) have given me, because of the current problems I have been having with the larger works, and the want of building them.

Shipping for a large dio nearly always kills a commission. It certainly isn't cost effective on this end, because I have to buy the box (18X18X24), the packing peanuts (around $36 for two bags), and of course, the lovely recent "screw you Eric" I got from the postmaster general when the SGC showed up to Lance damaged. It was in the system for less than 24 hours at Express Mail, and was marked "Fragile" and insured. I got the email equivalet of "**** happens". Bugger.

The reneged dios don't move, and I can't pass apartment inspection with so many large pieces that just gather dust. I had a person all lined up to purchase my "Red Light District" from long ago for $75 last year, and I waited, and waited, and waited....nothing. So I ripped out the bar, redid the face of it, and put it in Dennis' dio. The adult theatre and the Japanese restaurant got destroyed, after I took and kept the accents such as the Joe sized vegetables and boxes of take-out. Unavoidable.

I still love to build big, for both scales, 1:18 and 1:24. Heck, I still may make set designs for our little local actors group at our library like I did long ago, when I made them a fireplace, and a backdrop for the wee ones to perform their plays. It was reversible so it had a stone wall with vines and ivy on one side, and the other side was inside a room with faux stained glass window of a rose (little Beauty and the Beast action from the kiddies).

But with this shoebox idea, I can make decent enough themes that are kept dust free because I incorporate the boxtop as part of the foundation, but always take care to make sure that the theme allows the top to be closed properly. These "memory boxes" as they are called are very sturdy and even more so when reinforced with foamboard walls and such.

Speaking of which, here is the next in the belateds, JFAK's Resident Evil shoebox:

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"Speaking of which, here is the next in the belateds, JFAK's Resident Evil shoebox:"

. . .You just made my day.
You still need to let me know what I owe.

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Cap,

First of all, let me just say that this is so close to my heart that I have to tell...

At the elementary school that I attended, the "shoebox diorama" was actually used as an alternative to homework, LOL. I shuck you not. I can remember doing one on Ethan Allen, with paper cut-outs on cardboard posts in the foreground. Another one was an ancient Egyptians scene with real molded sand, LOL. So, you've actually rekindled some very fond memories for me, and thanks for that.

Now, with regard to these, this is just pure Creativity (you put that capital "C" on there, man)-- and each is outstanding from top to bottom. I love the details-- they abound, but seem low-keyed. The duel-functioning lids on the memory boxes is over the top, uh... or, under the, uh... It's cherry.

I'd say I like the Mountain Forge the best, but they're all excellent. That one is just really inspiring, and I love the chalk on the wall, and the mill especially.

When something this creative emerges, I think that it's more like a process of channeling than it is one of technical drawing or painting or crafting, and the results are often profound. Profound is the Mountain Forge.

And I don't know if that's short for Captain Ahab or Capricorn or Capo de tutto, or perhaps Cap as in Hat? Regardless, for me, "Cap" will from here forward always refer to a capital "C" in Creativity, brother...



PS: To my knowledge, Slave Leia comes with no flashlight of any kind, LOL.

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On the Resident Evil one I think the only thing that would put that one over the top is if the containment unit actually had a zombie figure in it instead of a cutout. It still looks fantastic, especially that desk, but adding that little bit of playability to that small area would have been icing on the cake.

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nuff said.

I have always been in awe of your skills and still am everytime I shoot something on the sets you built. Just wow everytime I see something of yours.

Now for the last in the "thank you's" shoebox dioramas. This one up is DarkHorse's foyer of trouble. Originally, my first idea was to recreate in Joe scale the table and victuals of that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with 1:18 scale recreations of the bugs, snakes, eyeball soup, and a single serving of the 'chilled monkey brains". I can still do it, if time permits just for 'shizzengiggles'.

Since he was doing both zombies and Terminator stuff, I thought I would do a scene that shows two acts of desperations. One, in that someone threw a topiary right through a store window, probably in trying to break it to escape a zombie or other threat. The second is a series of bullet holes drilled into both the Underground glass doors, and the Donna Karan advertisement off to the side in blue. The floor is littered with the dirt from the topiary, the broken ceramic pot, and the shards from the window strewn here and there.

The two things I am a bit not satisfied with are one, the broken shards had to be affixed with hot glue because crazy glue would have turned the shards dusty white, but hot melt glue leaves the small clear dots showing through the shards. The Mrs. suggested that I just send them in a bag so they could be loose fill, but I didn't want lose elements in any of these dios. Bad enough drbindy's had the small glass of Guiness, but at least that is handheld. The other thing that I am off with is the Underground doorway, because I had origially planned an insert like John's Resident Evil one with some miffed zombies on the other side, but they were cut (the image) kind of off and looked as if they were on their knees or something. I looked for a proper image to show that there was something other than blackness past the doors, but in all my magazines, nothing in the proper perspective. Sorry about that DH.

I still have a great shoebox one in mind that is a recreation of the Westminster station totally obliterated. The glass protective doors with the yellow strips shattered, the metal and pitted walls with the lights and "Westminster" Underground signs and the platform in front. Maybe even a piece of a destroyed train off to one side. But I was missing a slice of toy railroad track in scale. My mother-in-law has it actually, but I have pause when asking for such things for my needs.

Anyhoo, DH, I'll need your addy to send your thanks for all those T inserts.

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Flippin' fantastic, Eric!!!

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