Setting the scene

A post by Nymui last week got me thinking about dioramas and room scenes.
My doll friends have a meetup theme planned for December "The night before Christmas" & I'll be joining them virtually. And the Macchonna kids haven't had their toys out to play for a couple of years as setting up a room for all of them takes a bit of space so it can't be permanent in my house.
Thanks for getting me thinking @Nymui !

In case its useful to anyone, here's how my setup evolved yesterday.
The desk in our spare room has become "doll overflow" space. First the dolls on display had to be relocated and the desk cleared. The 31"x56" desk top feels big when empty.

I love using photo backdrops to start the set. The trick has been figuring out how to cover enough of the wall & get backdrops with settings which are in proportion to the dolls. For my SD family that means approximately a 1/3 scale look. The backdrops I'm using are a little hit or miss on proportion...but I've found that I can make them work by dropping them below the "floor" of my table top or raising them a bit.
For this room,I chose two backdrops with a holiday feel that I purchased several years ago.
One was for a holiday castle photo shoot & the other from a Victorian holiday so I wasn't sure how they'd work together but I wanted to block off two blank walls for the setting. I ended up adding yet another library shelf backdrop, folded in half to fill out the second wall...


Added Papa Macchonna to see how the scene would work with the tallest doll and...found the uneven wall heights at the top meant I'd have the tree cut off in photos...


So up I went again, rehanging the window backdrop. I decided I'd set the sofa in front of it so the floor level line on the backdrop wouldn't be visible in photos later.

Painter's tape is useful for temporarily hanging the backdrops on the wall without damage. It lets me step back & make sure everything is working as I'd like. But beware of it letting loose when left too long! I've tried to make it hold for temporary displays and always been thwarted at inconvenient times. With the backdrops where I wanted them, I added a push pin thru the tape or the backdrop at each top corner for security.

That's better!


And with "carpet" and furniture added, one can almost ignore the fact that the glowing hearth lacks a fire...


Now, for the next month or two the Macchonna kids, and their parents, will have someplace to stretch out & play. My friend Teddy warns me this must be an unconventional household with the children making themselves at home in the family library...but then, a family of fae-werewolf children celebrating a winter holiday in a Victorian Steampunk setting is perhaps a bit unconventional already... ;}


Next step, unpacking and playing with their toys!

Correction: Next step will be dealing with the lighting challenges. This particular room is great for displaying dolls as natural light is limited. However there is no over head light in the room. And, due to storm damage this past summer, the floor lamp usually in this room has been lighting our dining room. Perhaps the dining room light will be repaired soon? Perhaps I'll simply move the floor lamp back & forth? Any which way, it is obvious from the test photos that aiming the lamps available will require attention when I get to photographing the family. ;}

 

Almost always happy to learn & improve.