I’ve been working on a half scale roombox made from an embossed book box I got at Pier 1. I’ve seen boxes like this at Michaels before but they always seemed kind of chintsy. These are really nice, though, with heavy leather covers and leather-lined insides. I got both colors — the black one is big enough for a two-story scene, while the maroon one, when I get around to it, will be one (tall) scene with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
As I described in my last post, I started by making a spiral staircase out of a wooden fan.
Once I knew where the top step would be, I made a floor out of pieces of basswood. These are two 1″ wide pieces with a stained 1/4″ piece in between. I decided to stain the middle piece because it was slightly deeper than the 1″ pieces (I was using scraps I had on hand) and I thought it could look like a beam.
I covered the other portions of the ceiling, including the top inside edge of the box, with a leathery gold scrapbook paper from my stash.
For the floor, I used a sheet of wood veneer from a batch I got off eBay.
I didn’t want to cut into another sheet of veneer, so ended up with a thin strip of floor uncovered at the back of the second floor.
I cut a small strip from the piece leftover from the stair hole, and used this on the left edge of the floor. The rest of the blank area will be covered up by the bookshelves. These are Houseworks bookcases I’ve had lying around for about 10 years — I bought them for the Fairfield and didn’t use them. Never throw anything away!
Here’s the general idea.
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
