back and side walls

[chochiyo_sama]

back and side walls, a photo by Pirate Queen ChoChiyo on Flickr.

On the back wall is the "erupting" volcano with the little banner proclaiming "Welcome to the Zoo." A giraffe is climbing up the right side of the volcano. A zebra (unseen in this picture) is climbing up the left side.

The "lava" pouring from the mouth of the volcano is made of curved strips of red, orange, and yellow duct tape. Cynthia placed all of the erupting lava herself. I think it looks stupendous!

The clouds are white duct tape cut into fluffy cloud shapes. All the duct tape shapes had to be peeled off the roll and then stuck to the discarded part of the contact paper so it could be cut and shaped. It peeled right off that stuff, so it helped a lot.

The tree is black duct tape. The leaves on the tree are lime green felt glued onto the "wall" with Elmer's Glue-all. The blue walls are duct tape.

The volcano is made of contact paper. There is a lower border of contact paper on the left and right walls as well, to tie it all together.

In the tree are a tiger lying comfortably on a branch and a toucan perched at the top of the branches. There is also a monkey swinging from a branch.

I love this tree.

Cynthia glued on the leaves a little less realistically than I would have--but it's her doll room, so she can make it how she likes it.

The palm leaf lamp is perhaps my favorite part of the room--it will be shown better in another photo.

Comments

[the_godiva]

That is totally cool! You have a real talent for these little dioramas made from virtually nothing.

I know the fun is in making them together, but maybe there is a market for this stuff. Either an already done you add the dolls or some sort of partial kit you build yourself.

Maybe it's a book with what you can make with duct tape and felt. A Do It Yourself Dioramas; just add duct tape and felt.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

I have been thinking about writing a how-to-do-it doll "room" book.

I could take pictures of the boxes I make things out of.

Talk about "shopping trips" to second hand stores, garage sales, and dollar stores and how to "see" things in a different light--Cynthia is already talking about "seeing things like Cheryl sees them." LOL.

I think that is cute.

It's very cool how you can repurpose things and make them look remarkably realistic. Just wait until you see the lion cushion I have made. I am not sure if it is going to be a lion chair or a lion bench--but it will be excessively groovy, whatever it is.

[the_godiva]

I think that is a very good idea.

With the economy such as it is, when it comes to a lot of things, but especially children's toys, being creative with repurposing is going to be more important. It's very difficult to teach people how to see the potential in something but I know you can do it. Especially with the before and afters. Lists of "finds", the creation of a stash, organization and of course a list of materials like duct tape, contact paper, glues, etc.

I think it's also valuable for a social activity. Parents just don't take the time to sit down and "play" with their children in a creative way past a certain age. They play with toys with their toddlers, but they won't sit down with a 9 year old and make doll clothes or a doll house.

In fact, these days it seems children just don't get an opportunity for creative play much anymore. Even in kindergarten, everything is focused on an academic product and "learning". You don't see those marvelous wooden kitchen sets, blocks and other toys. It's considered a waste of time. Latchkey kids don't have the freedom to play with the neighbor kids, instead trapped in their houses watching TV until Mom gets home. They don't have the space for play. I remember having a box of old clothes for dress up, we had legos, puzzles, lincoln logs, tinker toys. We even played with an old reel to reel tape recorder that had three speeds and a dubbing button. We made stuff out of all sizes of boxes. Now the boxes just get recycled immediately. Do they even have coloring books now?

I think there is a market for such a book. And you already have plenty of pictures. It wouldn't be hard to take more of for the specific chapters.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

I wonder what publishing house would consider taking on such a book....

I remember how I used to sit for hours and hours and cut paper dolls and furniture for their "houses" out of the catalogues. And there used to be such awesome books of paper dolls for sale.

Video games are okay--but they are nothing like the fun of the creative play we did as kids. My bicycle was often a horse, but it was also a race car and a rocket ship as well!

[the_godiva]

You know, you can self-publish now. In fact, you can do it pretty much for free if you start as an e-book. You can do it through amazon and also through the apple store. I think the apple store even has something you can download to help construct the "book". I'm not even sure if you have to have a Mac to do it, it might also be for a PC.

I remember doing all sorts of craft stuff when I was little. We had a McCalls book called The Make-It Book. It had all sorts of crafts in it you could make out of stuff around the house. (If that stuff was fabric and stuffing and buttons, construction paper, glue, brads, etc.)

When we were sick, my Mother would buy this pad of strips with glue. We'd lick them and form a ring. Then make chains. That was how she kept us busy and our minds off being sick; making paper chains with these strips. They don't make them any more as I've never seen them. You don't usually find anything you can lick anymore anyway. Not even stamps. Of course now every kid has a TV in their room to watch when they're sick. Or maybe an iPad with WiFi.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

not to mention at least three different computerized gaming systems. They hardly even read any more. :(