Tag: paper cuts

Anatomy of a Crime Scene

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date August 11, 2020

I tried an experiment, where I left Altoid tins in my garden bed to see if they would rust.

Some of them did rust a little bit, and some faded in the sun! I know you are wondering why you didn’t think to try this yourself – don’t despair! You also can fade your own Altoid tins in the sun! Here’s how:

Place Altoid tins in a garden bed, your yard, a patio, or on the dashboard of a automobile
Wait

My initial experiment involved two regular “red” Altoid boxes, and one Cinnamon box. I started at the end of the summer in 2019, and let them sit outside all winter. It wasn’t until later spring that I noticed the finish was fading. The second batch, shown above, started in July, and some of the boxes began fading within 3 weeks.

This diorama is in a box from the first batch. It shows, as you might guess, the Anatomy. of a Crime Scene.

Cut paper diorama in Altoid tin showing a sitting room

Detail from a diorama showing a knife and wellington boot

Tags altoids, crime scene, diorama, murder, paper cuts, weathered altoids

Posted in Dioramas

Close the Language Door

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date June 16, 2020

A friend shared this poem with me, and I wanted to make something with it. It’s not quite an insomnia haiku, it’s just lovely. For me, it speaks to intuition and desire.

I’ve had this silver plated box for a while, and thought this was the perfect container. I wrote the poem on a sliver of black Tyvek, which lives in the room, while the moon look on…

Silver box half open, showing diorama inside

There is some kiss we want
with our whole lives,
the touch of Spirit on the body.

Seawater begs the pearl
to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild Darling!

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.

Close the language-door,
and open the love-window

The moon won’t use the door,
only the window.

~Rumi

from: https://allspirit.co.uk/close-the-language-door/

Tags diorama, moon, paper cuts, rumi

Posted in Dioramas

HMS GINA

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date May 28, 2020

When I visited San Fransisco last fall, I met this wonderful old gal. Her name is Gina, and she’s since gone over the rainbow bridge. It was lovely to get to know her a bit while staying with her parents.

I made this diorama for Gina’s folks. They told me that raccoons come into the house at night through the dog panel in their door. I was so envious!

Tags clock, diorama, paper cuts, raccoon, sea

Posted in Dioramas

Higher Ed

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date May 27, 2020

paper cut-outs on green screen camera stand

I just finished another short.

Everything in this came from a library. The cutouts and text are from 1960’s copies of College & University Business journal advertisements. I like the subliminal, did-that-just-say-something feel of this, especially as it progresses. Put a bunch of random elements together and see what surfaces.

I captured the audio with my phone – everything came from the library except the piano, which is in my garage. Maybe I’ll do another edit where I swap the piano for library sounds.