Totoro Diorama - 1 September 2024

One of my friends gave me a very cute 3-D Totoro paper theatre. I later found this sort of kit here at around £17 or about 102 Steem.

I was curious as to why this kit was described as a paper theatre rather than a diorama. I wasn’t sure where to go to find a clear difference between the two terms so I started with wikipedia which gives two alternative names for
paper theatres, toy theatre and model theatre:

Toy theatres were assembled at home and performed for family members and guests, sometimes with live musical accompaniment.

This kit is a scene but it’s not a proper depiction of a scene in the film My Neighbour Totoro. I don’t think this kit is a proper ‘paper theatre’ because when completed it won't be interactive or performed. There are no moving parts and it’s too delicate to be handled that much.

I compared that with what wikipedia had to say about paper dioramas :

The word "diorama" originated in 1823 as a type of picture-viewing device, from the French in 1822. The word literally means "through that which is seen", from the Greek di- "through" + orama "that which is seen, a sight".

I think the kit is closer to a diorama because it is a picture and the different 'layers' try to give the scene depth.

_{This paper kit is not performative.}

I like a challenge and this was an enjoyable change of activity which exercised my fine finger dexterity. The kit contained very small parts that needed to be pushed out carefully and then glued in a specific order.

I couldn’t find a bottle of liquid glue with a pointy nozzle so I had to settle for a cotton bud to keep my fingers clean.

When pushing out the small parts I had to be very careful not to mark or ‘break’ the cardboard. In the corners of the section below you can see slots. You needed to put tabs there to join the layers making up this 3-D picture.

_{Using a cotton bud to spread glue}

Part of the time you needed to glue incredibly small pieces like the teeth and eye section above. Not sure if it shows but I accidentally ‘broke’ the middle of it while trying to take it off the sheet. I put a lot of glue in the section and it doesn’t show. I also put some plastic under what I was gluing afterwards to avoid the work getting stuck to the instructions.

It was a relief to see the face of the character come alive after each step. You can see above that the mishap with the eye-teeth paper section does not show at all.

_{Not perfect, but that'll do.}

I continued laying and layering the pieces that I needed to glue and then went to have a well deserved break, but I will come back shortly to share the finished project.

Thank you for reading !