Totoro Diorama #2 - 2 September 2024

Eventually I finished laying, layering and glueing all the pieces together. Then with a toothpick I tried to softly apply some pressure to make sure the pieces were properly stuck.

Having completed the main part of this jigsaw I only needed to push out all the corner tabs that would keep the different layers apart but that would make the parts into a 3-D whole.

The photo below shows the tabs that were needed. The letter S shows you how thin the separation between the slots was. Sadly I didn’t have a craft knife handy as advised in the instructions. I only had a pair of scissors that were too thick for the purpose.

I had to ask for some help at this point as I didn’t want to bend any more card. My friend who gave me the kit was happy to support with the corners.

_{Nimble fingers finishing the corner tabs !}

We followed the instructions closely and applied glue to the tabs before inserting the sections to the tabs.

In hindsight we should have tested and checked everything and put glue afterwards because repositioning was really hard.

That’s the top view of the layers of this kit. Fortunately it doesn’t show that I put one of the layers upside down. The mistake doesn’t seem to have an effect on the overall look of the piece - no-one will ever know.

Despite the difficulties I’m very pleased with the final result. I had a lot of fun making this kit and thanks to my friend’s gift and help I will be able to enjoy this crafty 3-D picture.

Thank you for reading !