DIY Network

Glass Diorama, Part 1 Dioramas go beyond the shoebox! From "B. Original" episode DBOR-404

Create a fun, funky diorama in glass.

Dioramas grow up in this fun glass project from Michele Beschen: The B. Original host shows how to make an eclectic diorama using two-sided collages and a glass box you build yourself. It’s a far cry from sculpting Lewis and Clark in colored clay for that long-ago Social Studies project.

This fun project also builds your skills working with glass as you cut, prepare and solder the box panels.

Scroll down for Michele Beschen’s how-to, and get ready to B. Original with a grown-up diorama.

advertisement

Glass Diorama, Part 1

Materials:

thin, clear glass
glass paints or acrylic paints
rubbing alcohol
glass cutter
metal ruler or straight edge
decorative papers
magazine and book pages
spray adhesive

	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	Figure D
	Figure E
	Figure F
	Figure G

• Determine the dimensions for the diorama box. Michele Beschen based hers on a cigar box, duplicating the measurements for the box’s bottom and sides.

• Use thin, clear glass for this project. Recycle glass from picture frames, request scraps from glass shops or buy glass pieces at hobby or home improvement stores.

  Safety Alert: Always wear safety glasses when cutting glass: It’s easy for small, sharp shards to go flying. Also, be sure to clean up any glass shards.

• If you haven’t cut glass before, try it out on some scrap pieces before cutting the box pieces. The first step is scoring the glass: Place a piece of glass on a scrap of carpet to cushion it, then measure and mark the end points of the cut. Line up a metal straight edge on the marks, hold it down firmly and draw the glass cutter along the ruler with firm, even pressure (figure A). Don’t slow down or stop when using the glass cutter, and don’t go back over the score line a second time.

• Set the ruler and glass cutter aside. Hold the edge of the glass with one hand on either side of the score line, thumbs on top (figure B). Applying even pressure, roll your hands away from each other to snap the glass in two (figure C).

• Once you’re comfortable cutting glass, measure and cut the panels for the diorama box. After cutting, wrap all of the glass edges with foil tape and burnish thoroughly.

• Clean the glass panels thoroughly with rubbing alcohol.

• Arrange a set of the glass pieces as if it were an unassembled cardboard box.

• You will be painting a design on the "inside" side of the glass. Instead of the traditional painting method – painting the background first and then the items in the foreground – you’ll need to paint the foreground items first so they’ll be visible from the other side of the glass (figure D). Take some time to decide what to paint and what order to paint it in.

• Use palette knives and brushes to create your scene (figure E). Don’t forget to paint some items across two pieces of glass; this will make the image wrap around the outside of the box.

• Cover all the glass with paint and let it dry completely (figure F).

• For the inside of the diorama, create collages using decorative papers. Michele Beschen chose nature-inspired prints and designs to go with the garden theme of her painting. Use the glass pieces as a template to cut the paper to size (figure G).

• To assemble a panel of the diorama, place a painted piece paint side up, then place decorative paper collage on top, face up. Cover with the matching glass panel.

• Secure this art sandwich by wrapping all the way around the edges with more foil tape.

• Repeat this process for the other diorama panels.

Your diorama is starting to take shape. Go to Part 2 to learn how to solder it together and fill it out.