Lucy A. of Banbury, England, works in miniatures – really tiny miniatures. Her latest creation is a 1:48 scale Natural History Museum complete with ornate architecture, display cases – and a roaming tyrannosaur, of course. Brought to life using AtmosFX’s Dinosaur Encounter Decoration Collection, the T-Rex proves that even prehistoric giants are happy to downsize when they find the perfect piece of real estate.
Lucy creates her miniature worlds under the handle “Smaller Things” on Facebook, where she shares her intricate builds with fellow enthusiasts. Her Natural History Museum showcases the level of detail she brings to every project – from the ornate carved trim to the carefully arranged fossil displays. Call us biased, but the roaming T-Rex is what really does it for us.
To make it happen, Lucy used the Pepper’s Ghost effect – a classic technique that uses angled glass to make projections appear three-dimensional and floating in space. Even though the technique has been around since the 1800s, using it at 1:48 scale presents unique challenges. Everything has to be precisely aligned, and there’s not much room for error when your entire museum fits on a tabletop.
“I’m not sure if this has been used in this scale before,” Lucy tells us. Judging by the response to her work, it was worth the effort. “I showed this at a miniature show and had amazing reactions.”
The Pepper’s Ghost effect makes the dinosaur from Dinosaur Encounter appear to stalk the museum floor among the display cases, creating a magical moment where the fossil exhibits seem to come back to life. It’s exactly the kind of creative applications we love to see.
And Lucy’s not stopping with dinosaurs. She tells us that she’s currently working on a mausoleum in the same scale for another Pepper’s Ghost illusion, as well as an American diner themed around a zombie apocalypse – Zombie Invasion! Decoration Collection will be perfect for that. “Illusions are not easy on such a small scale and I’m enjoying the challenge,” she says.
How do you use AtmosFX Decorations? Big? Small? No matter what size, we’d love to see what you’ve created! Send photos and videos to us using this simple online submission form. Every submission will earn you points redeemable at the AtmosFX online store. And if you are selected as a future AtmosFAN of the Week, not only will you inspire fellow decorators around the world – you’ll earn a free decoration collection, too!
