The Gingerbread Man Miniature Scene

Hello my dear friends,

I hope you are all fine and have enjoyed your Easter Holidays. The weather here in Malta has been slightly better and finally I hope I can get back to being my normal self again. I haven't done much as real life has taken over in the past few weeks. My kids where off from school and I enjoyed them to the full. I also wanted to welcome a new follower to my blog Penelope Welcome!

Today I will be sharing with you something a bit different from usual. It is a little miniature scene which is called The Gingerbread Man. Well I think we have all read about this little fairy tale about the naughty gingerbread man that after he was baked he ran away and was chased by the bakers and a few animals but at the end he was eaten by the cunning fox. 

The Gingerbread Man Miniature Scene

Well, this miniature scene was basically made for a school project. My colleague at the office needed some help to make this project for her 6 year old son. It basically had to be about a favorite story book of the kids where then they will do a Show-and-Tell about it. As she didn't have any idea how to go about it......well you can all imagine what happened..........instead of helping her, I ended up making it myself which I really enjoyed doing. It was something fun and a bit different from the usual. 

As it was a school project I had to cut costs especially being for a 6 year old boy. So I asked for the copy of the book and it was one of those small Lady Bird Books full of pictures. It brought so many sweet memories of when I was a kid myself. I tried to use most of the pictures and characters from the original story book. One of the favorite quotes that the little gingerbread man used often in the book was "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the ginger bread man!". I read the story a couple of times just to get a good feel about it until I got the final picture printed in my head. I wanted it to look something between a pop up book and a mixture of a miniature scene. 

The first thing that I did was look for clip arts from my good friend Google such as trees and bushes. I even scanned some pictures from the original book.   When that was sorted then I moved to get the supplies. The number one thing that I needed was a book with a hardbound cover. There was no way I was going to destroy one of my books so I went to a charity shop and found a tick hard bound book cover. Knowing that it's destiny was meant to be destroyed, I choose a book that most likely was not to be picked up by no body.  So I started off by using a scalpel knife to go through 400 pages. My fingers where numb after that and now I know how a book worm feels. 

Using a scalpel knife through 400 pages

  After that was done I finally sanded it the pages down to make them more smooth and even. I can't even believe it myself that I actually destroyed a reading book .

The inside of the book ready and sanded down

  Then I covered the book cover using a blue contact sheet to make the new cover for the book as the book was going to be displayed open in a standing position. I  printed the original art work of the lady bird book from the story. I sprayed some acrylic lacquer so it will have a better finish and stuck it to the contact sheet on the cover with a pva glue.

Making the book cover

 When that was complete. I painted the base of the whole project in green acrylic and mounted the book to the base. Then using my computer it was time to start the design on the inside of the book. The first to start off was the back seen where you see the bakers running after the ginger bread man from the cottage. I printed some green trees and bushes where I have placed them staggered through the pages so it will have a 3D effect and sort of like a pop up book. When that was complete I added the front inside cover page which I designed using The gingerbread man's favorite quote and I also used the little original picture of the fellow. I have used a thicker kind of paper for this part to make sure that everything at the back was covered. Using a paint brush and pva glue I pasted it on and I also covered the edges of the pages so they will remain up right and stiff.

Adding the back scene and the trees and bushes to the pages

The inside of the upright book

So far I was pleased how everything was looking. I need to make some sort of lane or path from the book and along the base. So I used the paper mache' method to build the the slope and covered with with a piece of card board. After it was a tried through I covered it with gravel and green moss to give it a realistic touch. Then another idea came through my head. As I was going to make the animals chase the gingerbread man. I printed the fox to keep him in the book while the other animals will be actually figures. I printed the trees and bushes directly on cardboard, cut them out. To keep the trees up right I used wooden skewer stick and covered them with masking tape.

Making the path, trees and bushes.

I purchased the little horse and cow that matched the character from the story book. They had a nice size and finish and I was not surprised with their price tag. Their make is from Schleich figure collection. The little ginger bread man was made by me with polymer-clay as there was no way I was going to find one ready done. 

The ginger bread man made by me with polymer-clay

Then I added the figures to the scene painted the remaining green pieces and the school project was complete.

The Complete project

The book cover

The Tiny Naughty Gingerbread man

Yesterday I took it to the office and well you can imagine the squealing of my colleague when she saw it. She was thrilled. I really hope that the little chap will enjoy it and that he will do well in his Show and Tell.

So this is all for today my dear friends. I had to share this with you. Keep tuned as the new project will soon be kicking off.

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs

Rebecca xxx