Ground:
All ground has texture, whether it is a pine-needle blanketed slope or an asphalt pavement. The surface beneath our feet looks nothing at all as does a painted surface. So it is, that one of the most important points to remember in creating an illusion of reality and depth in a diorama, whether it is of cigar box or department store window size, is to create an appropriate foreground texture.
The balsa wood or styrofoam block you may have used in your foreground provides the main shape and bulk of that foreground. A good paper-mache mix can be made by mixing equal parts of Plaster-of-Paris, yellow dextrine, and powdered asbestos. The plaster and asbestos can be found in building supply stores, and the yellow dextrine at the chemical supply houses. Denver Fire Clay has the yellow dextrine in Denver. Put these three dry ingredients in a jar and shake them until they are well distributed. The mix can be stored dry. To use, add water to the dry mix to the consistency of putty or a very thick paste, mixing just enough to use at one time. The mache will form a “skin” on the surface in about an hour, but can be pushed and modelled somewhat longer. It will dry to a rock-like hardness overnight. If you plan to build up much thickness, it is best to do it in several thin layers. Let each layer dry before adding the next. The mache mix is spread over the balsa wood or styrofoam block with the palette knife or flexible spatula, to a thickness of no more than ¹/₁₆″. If the mix sticks to the palette knife (or to your fingers), moisten the knife just a little, and the material will not stick.
The mache can be used to make a smooth joint between the foreground block that slopes up at the back and the picture background. Try to make this joint a smooth curve, not a sharp angle.
Cliff faces and large rocks, or formations such as those in a “moonscape”, can be carved from styrofoam chunks. The blocks or chunks are fastened together by using wooden toothpicks and Elmer’s glue. The complete foreground is then covered with a layer of the paper mache mix to hide the obvious plastic texture. Again, Elmer’s glue is brushed on and the “rocks” are given a texture with fine sawdust or sand.
BACKGROUND OF “MOONSCAPE” CUT FROM BOOK JACKET. STYROFOAM CARVED INTO ROCK FORM. BOTTOM SMEARED WITH ELMER’S GLUE, TOOTHPICK FORCED INTO BASE. STYROFOAM BASE
Another type of cliff face, with a carved cave opening (for bears, prehistoric cave dwellers, etc.) is made in the same way. In mounting, the background picture is curved on just one side and the carved cliff face occupies the full depth of the cigar box on the side opposite the curve.
The same covering of mache, glue, and texture finishes this foreground.
If grass-like “weeds” or plants are to be shown in the foreground they can be made of hemp rope cut and pushed into the wet mache mix. Dye the hemp green with “Rit” or “Tintex” before using. The adhesive quality of the mix will hold the strands securely. When the mache mix has dried to a rock hardness, the ground is painted with a thick coat of Elmer’s glue and sprinkled with a generous layer of varying textures and colors. Very fine sawdust already dyed a bright green is available at model railroad shops as model railroad “grass”. If you prefer a less brilliant color, you may dye sawdust with the Rit or Tintex.
Take two one pound coffee cans. Punch holes in the bottom of one with a hammer and nail. Hold the coffee can against a scrap of 2″ × 4″ wood when you punch the holes. Set up the cans, the “sieve” on top. Fill the top can about half full of sawdust. Heat two or three cups of water to boiling point. Drop in dye tablet or powder and let it dissolve.
Pour hot dye over sawdust. The dye can be poured through the sawdust as many times as is necessary to get the depth of color desired. Spread wet sawdust out on newspapers to dry.
It is a good idea to dye several batches with different greens and browns, and to sift the dried sawdust through a piece of window screen, then a kitchen sieve, to get fine, medium and coarse grades. A different texture can be made by grinding up a ¼″ wooden dowel (available at hardware stores or lumber companies) in a clean pencil sharpener. When you glue the sawdust—or fine sand—or any other texture to the base, vary the color and the texture. Use some light green and some dark, and add a little brown or tan of a finer texture than the green, to resemble dirt showing through the grass. Gravel ranging from BB shot to garden pea size can be used for larger rocks. It is also a good idea to use coarse textures near the front of the box, fine textures at the rear, to approximate a correct textural perspective.
The most important thing to do in putting in this dirt and grass covering is to observe nature itself as closely as it is possible, seeing just how patches of vegetation grow—whether slopes are bare and what the “mosaic” of dirt and greenness is. The foreground will look natural only if it is based on observed knowledge of the actual relationships in nature.
