Quarantine Craft: Book Nook

 Well, this update took a bit longer to come than expected, mainly for the reason that I got a new job.

But I'm going to tell you that story a different time. Today I'm going to show you how I spent approximately a month of my unemployed summer-- making this:

Some of you may have noticed a popular recent trend that's been popping up all over the internet-- "Book Nooks", or little shelf insert dioramas you put on your bookshelf. The idea is to make it seem like there's a little world inside your bookshelf. Many of them are beautiful and elaborate, made with the skills of experienced dollhouse and model makers-- and completely enchanting. As I am not a dollhouse maker, a model maker, or possessing of an extra $300 or so to purchase one made by such an artist online, I was content to admire from afar. Do a quick search on Google, Etsy, or YouTube and you can find plenty of amazing examples to do just that!

But I really did need some kind of INDOOR adventure to survive the long period of this summer that I spent not leaving my house. After I saw one of my favorite vintage vloggers, Rachel Maksy, make one out of mostly clay, foam, and paint -- well, that actually seemed doable for me (who has NO experience with dollhouses and model making) so I decided I'd give it a try. This post is going to go through the step by step process I went through to make it, in case you're interested-- or just skip to the end if you want to see more shots of the finished results.

I wanted something simple to start with, since this is all pretty new to me, but I also wanted to do something I hadn't seen anyone else do because I'm a rebel like that. So I decided to go with an ancient egyptian tomb-- I figured that was something I could make mostly out of foam, which seemed beginner friendly. So after making some rough sketches:

I made a run to the local craft store during a holiday sale to get myself a box with a hinged lid (so that I'd have an easier time reaching the inside)

as well as some paint, a LOT of modge podge, and several sheets of fun foam in a couple of thicknesses.

First step: cutting off the side of the box that I wanted to face forward.

I also used a little electrical tape to seal off the rough edges after cutting.

I wanted to make a carved archway modeled off some photos I'd seen, so I used a piece of thicker foam to construct that.

I carved the hieroglyphs into the foam with a tiny screwdriver

I used a nail file to add some "damage", like the stone had gotten scratched up over the years...

Testing the fit

Partway through carving the goddess Ma'at above the door. You'll see the finished carving further down.

I wanted to use regular fun foam to make "stone" bricks for the walls, floor, and ceiling. First problem was how to give the foam the right texture. When I've done foam texturing projects in the past, I've used a heat gun and some aluminum foil to give the foam a texture like old leather. (There isn't a good close up, but the project in question was the quidditch armor for one of my thrift store costumes) But I found that technique just made the foam shrink and warp too much for this project. After some research, I instead found the method of putting the sheet of fun foam on some cement and whacking it with a hammer to get the "stone" texture I wanted.

Another project: I knew I wanted a mural on one wall. My Mom, who has actually been to Egypt, has this papyrus that she got as a souvenir there:

And I thought that would make a pretty good mural. I recreated the image with some image editing software on the computer

Then printed it onto some shrink film to get it down to the right size.

Something I forgot when I was doing this-- colors on shrink film get much darker after you shrink them. If I did this again, I'd take that into account so I wouldn't get that weird orange color. On the plus side, the texture is a little rough so it almost feels like stone.

On the wall with the mural, I cut one of my textured sheets of foam into smaller "bricks" and arranged them to fit around the shrink film piece.

That was so much work, though, that for the floor and the other wall I decided to just carve the grooves between the bricks and leave the foam in a single piece.

Using modge podge to glue the walls on

I found that paperclips made pretty good makeshift clamps for holding the foam down while the glue dried.

Another step I did right here-- I coated all of the foam surfaces that I would be painting with two or three layers of modge podge. This makes the foam easier to paint, since it creates a membrane over the porous foam that normally just kind of absorbs the paint. 

Next I wanted to make a column for the other side-- something a little more three dimensional to give the thing more depth. I started by making a semi-cylinder with a piece of scratch paper.

Then I wrapped it in foam. I also made a top for the column and a base-- I had to use some brads to keep them in place in addition to the glue. It's hard to see in these shots, but I carved the column with hieroglyphs as well.

You'll notice that by now I'd started to pain all of the "stone" black. I figured having a base coat of black would make it easier to add some depth when I did the rest of the painting. This was also when I glued in the archway.

I wanted a mummy case as a prop. At first I wanted to try making it out of polymer clay, but this hit a snag on the fact that I'm actually really bad at making things out of clay. So I decided on a more unorthodox solution. I found a photo of King Tut's mummy case, printed and cut out a bunch of small copies, and then glued those cut outs to a thick sheet of foam. 

I cut the pictures out and stacked them in layers to try to get a 3D effect.

I'm pretty pleased with how this fellow turned out!

More work on the black base coat of paint

I will not subject you to my first attempt at painting the walls-- a garish orange brown meant to match the shade of the mural. Let's just say, it was garish. After some regrets and then some experimentation, I found that a much more realistic looking shade was "parchment", a kind of beige. 

I used a small paintbrush to fill in the hieroglyphs I'd carved on the column and on the archway.

Now I don't actually know how to read hieroglyphs, so I was just copying images I found online. Most likely the result is a bunch of nonsense, but I would love to find out someday that I accidentally made some sort of bizarre curse or something.

The next step was to age the "stone". I did that by painting over some of the textured areas, cracks, and crevices with dark brown paint-- then wiping the excess paint away so it would gather in the indents. 

This is where things actually start to look kind of cool

I had an idea that I would add a little bit of craft sand, mixed with some glue so it would stick, to the floor to make it feel more like this was a tomb hiding in the desert. Unfortunately the only craft sand I could find at the store was either technicolor, or "White sparkle sand"

But I added some brown and gold paint to try to get the color I wanted and mixed it all up.

In the end, I hated how that turned out. Too thick and crusty, and the color came out wrong. I ended up scraping most of the first batch of sand out. The second time, I added a little glue where I wanted the sand to stick then sprinkled the uncolored sand on top-- and then shook loose the excess after the glue dried. This turned out better in my opinion, though if I did this again I probably wouldn't do the sand at all.

As a finishing touch, I painted the outside of the box black and then used gold paint to add a little mural of some pyramids. Mostly you can't see this when it's in place on the bookshelf, but I figured it was a nice touch anytime someone decided to pick it up for a closer loook.

And now, the finished product! Cue glamour shots.

The camera flattens the effect a little, so I took some photos without flash in low lighting so you can see the "depth" better.

So that's it! Kind of a different sort of post than what I usually do on here, but I'm pleased with how this project turned out so I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed, and that wherever you are you're finding something enjoyable to do in the middle of the trainwreck that is 2020. Take care of yourselves!