Today I would like to talk to you about miniature scenes in boxes and other unusual ways or containers to make miniatures in. (I love it! ).
Let's just dive straight into the topic, shall we?
Updated 12/07/23
What Is A Miniature Room Box and what are miniature scenes in boxes?
A room box is made typically to put miniatures scenes in, so it is not exactly the same as a miniature diorama.
These scenes could be anything, from your regular kitchen/bedroom/living room scene to exterior scenes, like this 'Christmas Stall'.
They can be realistic or made to represent 'fantasy' scenes, like a troll house or a witches scene.
Some professional miniaturist focus their hobby totally on room boxes only, while others just take a break from their larger projects like big dollhouses or other miniature scenes.
Myself, I sometimes take a break from my 'treehouse' that I am working on, to make miniature kits from Robotime, or to make things for my fairy garden for example. Because, let's be honest here, working on the roof of my treehouse, is going to take a lot of time and effort ( I am covering it with pencil scrapes), and I want to have some variation in it.
Look at it this way: you can love making a puzzle, but sometimes you want to take a break and read a book or watch the television, no ?
Most of these commercial miniature kits are made from wood, pressed wood, or plywood. But some have plastic parts, like the ones from Hongda and Hoomeda. These can be in different scales, but the ones I use are in 1:24 scale and that is really perfect for those miniature room kits, or my house would be to full by now from just these kits 😉
What are the advantages of miniature room boxes?
- A room box can be crafted for special occasions, like a wedding, a birthday, or why not: the opening of a real-life store/bakery/coffee shop, etc. Imagine the look on people's faces when you give them an exact replica of their little sewing shop!
- Making a room box is often a first step to learning new techniques and skills in crafting miniatures. Once you get the hang of these techniques, then you can start applying those to large-scale projects.
Professional miniaturists for example, who need to go to public miniatures fairs, often need to craft a miniature scene in a few days, to present their projects in a nice-looking way.
- Miniature room boxes are simply cheaper and less time-consuming, without having to set up large pieces like dollhouses or model railways.
- anyone can make a room box, it doesn't really matter what kind of economic class you are in or if you are wealthy or not. You can fill your miniature rooms with projects made from trash and you can put them in any 'container'. Which I am going to talk about next: there are so many ideas!
How to make a room box is something you can find out here.
Miniature room box ideas
In this next section, we will show you lots of ideas for room box containers, let's start with a musical instrument!
1. Miniatures in an old guitar.
Just carve out the front of an old (classic) guitar, that was going to be thrown away anyway, and there you go: there's your 'guitar-room box'.
2. A miniature scene in a book.
On
Some artists really have a wonderful imagination, look at this one for example!
3. Miniatures in the framework of a painting.
Take a beautiful frame and make a wonderful miniature scene in it. You can get a fantastic result like this artist with the name
4. Miniatures in an old hatbox.
This speaks for itself, one gets an old hatbox and makes another miniature scene in it, cut idea, right?
5. Glue miniatures to a cutting board!
Who would have ever thought about this? Just glue those miniatures to a kitchen cutting board!
The artist's site.
6. Use a breadbox!
How about making a miniature bakery in a tatatataaa: breadbox! Isn't that the cutest ever?
7. Make a miniature scene in a sardine can!
You have to see this to believe it, use a sardine can!
8. Miniatures in an old TV.
On a flea market or in a second-hand store, you can sometimes buy an old TV for a few pennies. You can 'upgrade' these by turning them into miniature room boxes.
9. Miniatures in an old suitcase.
You could try and find an old suitcase and turn this into something magnificent!
10. Miniatures in a jar.
You have probably seen mini-ships in a bottle before, but you can also just put miniatures in a jar!
I can't seem to find a reference to this artist, please let me know when I need to mention it regarding copyrights!
11. Miniatures in a toaster.
The picture kind off speaks for itself, make a room box out of an old toaster 😉 The artist's site is here.
Final conclusion.
While I am sure that you probably could find many more ideas for putting miniatures in the miniature room 'boxes', I hope that you enjoyed the ones that I have found 😉 I am always surprised about miniature artists and their creativity, every time I am doing some research for my site!
If you would like me to cover a topic/tutorial or if you have a question for me, then please leave a message below in the comment section. Or you can now join my newest Facebook group on miniatures and share your work or just look at the work of others!
I wish you happy crafting!
Best regards,
Lizzy
Hi Lizzy. It's always a pleasure to come across your blog.
I love miniatures room boxes! they are so beautiful. the number 2 "A miniature scene in a book" I absolutely love it. I have no idea how they got the inspiration to do that, but that's awesome.
My girlfriend and I create miniatures from time to time. I'm not an expert, but I try. We’ve made tiny houses, And tiny baby snow globes using those plastic ball containers from the 25¢ machine.
By the way, If anyone would reply to this question, I'd appreciate it! We have done a few DIY dollhouses, and sometimes there will be a wooden piece that is warped. We'm unsure how to fix such a thing. Have you ever faced the same problem, and what did you do about it? Thanks!
Hi Lizzy,
I have a question, how do you keep miniature items from falling over? I really don’t want to glue them so I use them over somewhere else.
Thanks
ld be anything, from your regular kitchen/bedroom/living room scene to exterior scenes, like this 'C
estion, how do you keep miniature items from falling over? I really don’t want to glue them so I use