Hello, my name is Phil and I just started making dioramas about 2 years ago. About 15 years ago I got very ill and couldn't work, since then I have had 2 multi-organ transplants, the most recent was last March. While recovering I needed something to do so I started making dioramas. I had never touched clay since my childhood playdough years, but it turned out that I really enjoy making scenes I have seen while travelling.

I use a larger scale, 1:22 and I do wildlife dioramas because that is what I love and what my work has been with exotic animals since my first adult job. I started out buying figures and palnts and just putting them together, then I went to model train style "do-it-myself" type trees and landscaping. From there I decided to make dollhouse plants and trees from clay and just got better and better at making them until what you see in the photos below. I also use to use the toy figures from brands like Schleich, Safari Ltd., and Papo but now all ot the figures on the dioramas are custom made by me or others who have taught me how to sculpt and paint.

Here is a series of photos that show some of the work I have done, this is the Indian forest diorama, it is about 35 square feet and I am now working on the river bank. I always do a mini version of what I am thinking so I don't destroy or damage the big one, so here is the 4X8 inch mud bank that will I am now sculpting on the large diorama.


Here are some of the plants I have made, everything you see is built from scratch, the foliage is a combination of hand cut paper, laser cut paper (mostly my own custom design that I have cut by Micheal Hart of Hart of the South, if you need scale palm fronds he makes the best but they are way too small for my scale so I have him custom make mine to fit the species and scale I need), Japanese kits made by Kamazakuri, and preserved foliage that I either buy or preserve myself then airbrush to match the color I need.






And finally here are some of my African scrub scenes, most of the animals were done by a friend who sculpts for a living and she is the best sculptor for scale animal figures I have ever seen. There are a few that I have done, in this first photo the wart hog in the background is done by me and the bird is done by a Japanese sculptor who does scale birds, he is another fantastic sculptor but he only does birds and he recently retired, I was very lucky to meet a friend of his and now have about 20 done by him.


Here are a few that highlight different figures, again some done by me, others done by my friends. All of the landscaping and plants were custom made from scratch as described above, and the river is the one I am finishing by changing the rockwork to the mud bank you saw in the first photo. Hope you enjoy!

Fascinating stuff, Phil. I've never looked closely at scenes like you've made here. The handmade trees are really convincing! Everything is done to the tiniest detail!
Really well done.
thanks for posting!
-Sean.

From what I see in the photos, you aught to go into business for yourself. There is definitely a market for landscapes. If you can down size to 1/35, I would be a very interested customer. Welcome to the site.

Thank your both for the comments, I decided to make trees and plants that could be identified by the leaves, flowers, bark or shape, if it has any distinctive characteristics I make sure they are visible in the position on the diorama.

I have about 110 different species between the two dioramas, most can not be seen in photos such as these but I also make things such as 3 species of bamboo, (Asian, black and Simon's) 4 philidendrons (split leaf, maximus, heart shaped and bipinnatum) along with 7 or 8 acacias, 3 different baobabs about 25 different species of palms, crape mertyls, sorrowless trees, and 4 species of ficus (fig trees). This doesn't include any of the flowering plants or bushes and so on, I just love making them and it was one of the things I did to keep myself sane while I recovered from surgery.

I also have about 45 species of animals for the different dioramas now and I am always working on new ones here and there.

to answer your question I do sell some here and there but I already have a business and I don't want another one but I can make any trees or larger plants in any scale you need, pm me with your email address and let me know what you are looking for and we can easily work something out for the things you would like.

Firstly welcome to the site Phil. That is some very impressive work and something I as a member here rarely sees. One problem with this diorama is I cannot find the tank!

Interesting work, Phil. Welcome