Hi guys,

Would anyone say that a vintage oil painting would make a good diorama base? Dead cheap off ebay, with a nice antique wood frame, with some depth. Was thinking of getting rid of horrible painting and glue/screwing ply base to back. Maybe even use for river scene, as could line to waterproof and there's good depth to build styrofoam. Good large size too, as am planning major Arnhem type scene (20"x30". Anyone have any thoughts/or tried something like this? Any input gratefully received.

Just so long as it doesn't turn out to be a rare and horribly valuable van Gogh! I regularly use picture frames as dio bases. Just have to make sure the corner angles meet well and the frame is solid enough.

Ditto but I get my not so rare or old frames at Michaels Art Supply or at yard sales.

Ditto on the ditto
My local Michael's has a clearance section where they almost always have a "scratch & dent" frame or two dirt cheap because they are missing the matte and glass. And with the 40% off coupons they seem to have every week, even some of the regularly priced frames are equally dirt cheap.

Hi

The only issue I can see, and this applies to using old or new frames is that some are ornate, patterned, complex profiles which will detract away from the diorama, which should be the main focus of the viewers attention.

Simply, elegant profile shape is what I would use, making sure nothing distracts the viewer from the diorama and the story its telling.

One other point is that with most picture frames the profile usually works the opposite way to what you want from a diorama plinth, in other words gets thinner towards the inside where the canvas/picture is. Usually a diorama has a raised base in some way and you want the thickness of frame at that point then thinner towards the outside. In other words inside out compared to the picture frame if that makes sense.


Alan