Fasinated by all things miniature, it was only a matter of time before I tried my hand at Book Nooks. I purchased a simple kit to overview the basic construction and researched other examples and tutorials on YouTube.
My first attempt was a small box-like version and it was pretty limited in detail - just a basic street with a café and some miniatures to support. But I did learn some things not to do and others that can really enhance the visuals. Simple as it was, a friend of mine was taken by it and asked that I make one with a Christmas scene for her. I saw this retuest as an opportunity to use my new knowledge and techniques and create a much better result.
First, the book itself. I wanted a book box that I could modify and one that I could work on opened for easier access until completed and then closed. Fortunately, I found some nice options on Amazon. I chose a 7" by 9 1/2" red velvet version that fit the Christmas theme. I felt the size would have a nice presence on a bookshelf without being too large to fill adequately. The book did have to be modified, of course: the end of the pages had to be cut off and there were holes or pockets needed for wiring.
Next, plotting it out. The Christmas village scene was a given, but there are several approaches you can take, from the view down a street or town, an outdoor scene, a particular building or station, or looking into a specific room. I then just started with using paper and cardboard to plot things out and then eventually basswood for the structures. The size you are going to make any structures is going to determine the scale of the miniatures you add to it. I found it can be challenging to keep everything in scale within the scene.
As for materials... I used, basswood, beads, and polymer clay and several pieces are from model trains and their scenery. I found doll house scale was too big for what I was doing. I made some of the miniatures, purchased others, and found a nice selection on Etsy that are 3D printed to whatever scale you need. You of course still have to paint them (get out the magnifier!). For some of the buildings I just found what I was looking for in the way of wood planks, stucco, or bricks and then printed it off the internet and used the paper image to wrap the buildings or fill the window scenes.
Tips and Insights In my research I picked up the technique of adding an angled mirror to the back of the nook and it creates an image of further depth. For my village, it gave the appearance that the street and buildings continued farther back than they actually did.
The last tip I have is on the lighting ... it's a lot harder than I thought. My original idea was to use fairy lights played out behind the buildings and get the bulbs lined up in the windows and the switch was slid into a pocket at the top of the book. My first attempt was just taping the wire on the buildings and found the wire was difficult to work with and had a mind of its own. Second attempt I at least got one side of the town wired with the fairy lights and upon closing the book to review they did not provide enough illumination to light up all the details within. Nice thought if you are going for a night scene or something, but wasn't going to work here. So I tore it all out and started over, it's a process. It took some searching around, but I did finally find some small puck lights on Amazon that had a switching mechanism that could still be reached from outside the box.
Fasinated by all things miniature, it was only a matter of time before I tried my hand at Book Nooks. I purchased a simple kit to overview the basic construction and researched other examples and tutorials on YouTube.
My first attempt was a small box-like version and it was pretty limited in detail - just a basic street with a café and some miniatures to support. But I did learn some things not to do and others that can really enhance the visuals. Simple as it was, a friend of mine was taken by it and asked that I make one with a Christmas scene for her. I saw this retuest as an opportunity to use my new knowledge and techniques and create a much better result.
First, the book itself. I wanted a book box that I could modify and one that I could work on opened for easier access until completed and then closed. Fortunately, I found some nice options on Amazon. I chose a 7" by 9 1/2" red velvet version that fit the Christmas theme. I felt the size would have a nice presence on a bookshelf without being too large to fill adequately. The book did have to be modified, of course: the end of the pages had to be cut off and there were holes or pockets needed for wiring.
Next, plotting it out. The Christmas village scene was a given, but there are several approaches you can take, from the view down a street or town, an outdoor scene, a particular building or station, or looking into a specific room. I then just started with using paper and cardboard to plot things out and then eventually basswood for the structures. The size you are going to make any structures is going to determine the scale of the miniatures you add to it. I found it can be challenging to keep everything in scale within the scene.
As for materials... I used, basswood, beads, and polymer clay and several pieces are from model trains and their scenery. I found doll house scale was too big for what I was doing. I made some of the miniatures, purchased others, and found a nice selection on Etsy that are 3D printed to whatever scale you need. You of course still have to paint them (get out the magnifier!). For some of the buildings I just found what I was looking for in the way of wood planks, stucco, or bricks and then printed it off the internet and used the paper image to wrap the buildings or fill the window scenes.
Tips and Insights In my research I picked up the technique of adding an angled mirror to the back of the nook and it creates an image of further depth. For my village, it gave the appearance that the street and buildings continued farther back than they actually did.
The last tip I have is on the lighting ... it's a lot harder than I thought. My original idea was to use fairy lights played out behind the buildings and get the bulbs lined up in the windows and the switch was slid into a pocket at the top of the book. My first attempt was just taping the wire on the buildings and found the wire was difficult to work with and had a mind of its own. Second attempt I at least got one side of the town wired with the fairy lights and upon closing the book to review they did not provide enough illumination to light up all the details within. Nice thought if you are going for a night scene or something, but wasn't going to work here. So I tore it all out and started over, it's a process. It took some searching around, but I did finally find some small puck lights on Amazon that had a switching mechanism that could still be reached from outside the box.
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Other than the lighting (which I will continue to work on) I was pretty pleased with the way this came out. It's what I had envisioned in my mind and it's nice when you can bring an idea to life. And yes, my friend just loved it! Next in line is a Halloween project - something in line with a Franstein laboratory perhaps.
Some of my purchases.