The Path To... (Part 2)

When we last looked at this micro-diorama the basic scenery had been completed using ground foam and hanging basket liner. The next stage was to add some texture and colour variation to the grassed areas using some Silfor 'tufts' and Gaugemaster/Noch laser cut plants.

With the glue dry I carefully dry-brushed the tufts with a light grey/green mix of acrylic paint to reduce the sheen, and applied matt varnish to the laser cut plants to tone them down a little.

I also set about many areas of the scene with weathering powders, applying greys to the ballast and pathway areas, some earth tones around the edges of the grass beside the ballast and path, and finally some blown sand around the path edges and steps.

As you may have already guessed, the idea is to show that this is the path to the beach and hint at a seaside location. Perhaps the path to... Shifting Sands?

I do plan to add some signs warning of the crossing, but until then it has gone into the display cabinet. My usual light-wood surround and lettering completes the scene - or does it? As an experiment I have added a small backscene in the display cabinet to add to the illusion of depth. The beach hut scene is my own photo taken at Chapel St Leonards, given a watercolour filter in 'Photoshop' and printed on canvas photo paper.

Whether it is an experiment to be repeated, we shall see, I'm always looking at how items can be displayed and there are pros and cons to the micro-diorama approach, not least that it shows up that the cabinet shelves are not totally flat!

Colin