Tutorial: Faux Japanese 'Shoji' or sliding screens

Another entry today, but with a twist- I finished the one wall of the Japanese diorama I am working on, and I have pictures/and a rough tutorial on how I created the faux 'Shoji' or sliding screens in Japanese. These are the traditional doors with paper in the frames in traditional Japanese homes. I used the book Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumor Godden because of its directions I bashed for my own purposes for this.

I at first thought of creating the Shoji so they really could slide open, or at the least hinging them like I did the French doors, but decided against that. I will have the back wall done by tomorrow afternoon I hope, so you can see a somewhat complete diorama.

First, I used black foamcore, and lots of balsa stripwood pieces, and one 1/2 inch wide stripwood piece to go across the top. I also used Golden Oak miniwax stain, as well as two sheets of 12 x 12 vellum scrapbook paper, as well as a 12 inch wide x 4 inch high wood grained contact paper.

First, I measured across the paper 

                                 Then I cut a piece of contact paper 12 inches wide by 
                                  4 inches high, and stuck that across the bottom onto the foamcore
                                 I taped down TWO pieces of 12 x 12 vellum scrapbook paper down 
                                   first.

Then I measured my balsa strips. The total height of the SHoji is 15 inches high, 12 inches wide. After all the strips were laid out, cut, measured, I then stained them with Golden Oak miniwax stain and let them dry.

I used regular tacky glue for this so I could adjust the strips. I used a ruler at the top to make sure the strips going down the middle were somewhat even. 

More gluing. It will look a little messy with the glue excess, but don't wipe, just let it dry naturally- it will dry clear.

I laid the remaining strips across and glued

I used a heavy book to add some weight and make it dry a little quickly. The book has over 900 pages and is the Autobiography of Henry Vlll as written by his fool, Will Somers by Margaret George. (highly recommend)

I used a 1/2 inch wood strip across the top of the door/shoji. That makes for a more defined focal point on the side wall.Below are photos of the finished faux Japanese door

 Ta da! I am really pleased with how this came out- it came out much much better than expected. I saved a ton of money by using my 25% off total purchase amount coupon at Michaels when buying the paper, stripwood and foamcore. I have been rattling this around in my head for a couple of days figuring out how to put it together and I finished this in a day and a half- if I had had all of the materials I needed to start with it would have been finished quicker. The design of my dioramas can change from the original plan I have in my head once I start shopping for materials and doing furniture placement. 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial. I am hoping to do another for the opposite wall as these walls will be used in my Shogun steakhouse diorama too. Right now, I am doing a simple Japanese home diorama to celebrate Hinamatsuri, and the Shogun restuarant will be a more involved diorama.

Sneak Peek...& Art for your dollhouse dioramas

With the ups and downs recently in my life, my routine is all out of whack...Just yesterday was I only able to get the decorations off of my Christmas trees! Today I thought I would get back on track with some sneak peak photos of what I am working on as well as a tutorial and some art photo files for you to copy to make your own elegant art for your dollhouse &/or diorama.
Here is what I have been working on, this is by no means finished, just set up and held together. 

It is a simple curtained aclove, done in the French manner. I am nuts and fascinated by all things French, especially from the 18th century- Rococco and from the era of Louis XVl & Marie Antoinette. I sewed the curtains out of some taupe satin I had, and the pouf drapes are out of a green satin and the same taupe satin. I still have alot of work to do on those curtains, such as cording and tassels. 
The photo is of Marie Antoinette when she was a young Dauphine, the photo frame is an ornament frame from Michael's dollar bins. I was not happy with the glitter on it but it does add a bit of pop to this project, however it is difficult to photograph. I copied the photo from google image search and put it in a special folder on my computer. Cut to fit your frame- and voila! art for your dollhouse! I have wanted to do an art gallery scene for my doll town with a story I have in mind, but have never got around to it since doing research on this project, which will be indepth this year. 
So here are some of my photo files of beautiful Art I have found on the web in my google searches. I love American Primitive as well, but that would not fit into this scene...I admit to a fondness for allegory art with the Greek gods and goddesses- it is interesting how they used these paintings in the 17th and 18th century.

Feel free to right click on the photos and save them to your computer for your usage. If you post them on your own blog, please link back to my blog to give me the credit, is all I ask.

18th century portrait by Jacques Louis David- I think after he was exiled from France. of a young man

 Queen Marie Antoinette, in her later 30's when she did away with the fripperies of her dress, and became more serious

18th century allegory art, of Venus & Cupid? I think

Portrait of a Countess? 

                   One of my favorites of fruit, and wine..

                               flowers and fruit

          18th century lady in a chemise a la anglaise

                lady in dress of the Directoire /Napoleonic period 

                        Two travelers, from the Napoleonic ll era by their gowns

                             Marie Antoinette's two children, Marie Therese, and the Dauphin, Louis Charles

           Bernadotte, a semit relation of Napoleon l, who became King of Sweden

                             18th century gentleman in hunting costume

I hope some of these will help for your focal art points in your dioramas. As you can tell, my style tends towards traditional colonial/ French than towards modern. So many dioramas are done in modern motif and it can be well, boring and uncomfortable looking. I think it is a result growing up in the Southern Region of the East Coast (Virginia) and being around antiques and large old houses which heavily influenced my taste in decor. My dolls have my taste- lol so they are a little snobby as most Fashion Royalty dolls are!

As I get and find more art pieces, I will post them here so you too can make or create your own art. One tip is if you are creating an art studio, is to take these cutouts and modge podge them onto small canvases that you can buy in packs at Michael's in the art department. Frames can be purchased also at miniature shops or in the dollar frame sections of walmart, Target, Michael's and Hobby Lobby. It all depends on your idea of your scene or diorama and how much detail you want. 
Enjoy!