The Methamorphosis project: a sneak peek into Gregor Samsa's bedroom.

Hi all, I hope you're well!

As the "Metamorphosis" project nears completion, I'm sharing with you a sneak peek of Gregor Samsa's bedroom.

"The Metamorphosis" (original German title: "Die Verwandlung"), was written by the great, Prague-born novelist and short-story writer Franz Kafka, who's regarded as one of the most influential figures of 20th-century literature. It was first published in 1915, and this is a personal tribute to both writer and book. 

The story is centered around Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman who wakes up one day to find he has transformed into a giant bug. The  project is a 1:12 scale reproduction of Samsa's bedroom, where most of the story takes place. 

Above: sneak peek into Samsa's bedroom through his bedroom window.

Below: partial view of the room as seen from the main entrance door.

Given that Kafka's novella wasn't originally published as a picture book, you will understand that this rendering is based on how I personally 'saw' it while reading the story. Which, of course, can be quite different than your image of it, if you happen to know the book. In any case, this one was definitely on my bucket list, so I'm happy to see it worked out!

More to follow soon, so please keep an eye on this blog if you're interested in the 'Kafkaesque'!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project: pillow talk (sort of).

Hi all, I hope you're doing well! A fresh week has started, so let's make the best of it!

Today I want to touch base on the degree of realism that one wants to put into miniatures when creating them.

Of course this varies greatly across our 'miniaturists community' for reasons too numerous to contemplate here, ranging from the level of skill the miniaturist has, to the perceived need to create something more or less resembling the original object one wants to portray.

Personally I'm quite pragmatic on the subject, and the level of realism I apply serves the purpose for which I create a mini. My aim is not to recreate 'reality' in every minute detail (although I sometimes truly enjoy doing just that!) but to create a scene that brings about a certain feeling with the viewer.

More often than not, the objects I create are not totally faithful to a certain scale; they do not mimic the details of the full scale object which inspired them, nor are they always perfectly finished. But again, that's not my intent. 

My miniature scenes are more like a canvas, portraying an expression (and impression) of the images I have in my head.

The above pictures show a pillow I made for the Metamorphosis project. Actually, the pillow was already made, but it was filled with some stuff that did not give it a natural look. 

I wanted to make a little dent or impression on it, as if someone had just slept on it, but no matter what I tried, the thing returned to its original shape. So I cut it open and replaced the filling with something more workable, then gave the pillow the shape that I had in mind. I hope you agree with me that it looks pretty realistic. Never mind the bed, this is just the frame (self-made) on which a mattress and bedding will eventually be placed.

So there you go: reality serving a purpose. But then again, I'm a very pragmatic guy.

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author

The "Metamorphosis" project: a desk and chair.

Hello everybody, here's a new update for my ongoing "Metamorphosis" project; a project inspired by and centered around the famous story by Franz Kafka. 

This time I'm sharing images of a desk and chair to be placed in Gregor Samsa's room. By the way, Gregor is the protagonist of Kafka's story, a guy that woke up one day and discovered that he had turned into a bug. Indeed, this can happen to the best of us...

 

Both items were already painted when I bought them, but the idea was to change them in such a way that they acquired a 'personality' of their own. In my view they were simply too plain and boring to be used without alterations. 

For starters, the desk, which was actually a washing table, had a trimming on the back and sides which I removed. Then I covered the tabletop with a sheet of cardboard which was painted and weathered to look like leather or wood.

 

The original painting of the table was removed for the most part, and replaced with new coatings to make it darker and more in line with the rest of the furniture in Gregor's room.

Then I turned my attention to the chair, which was similarly stripped of its paint, and received new coatings. The fabric of the seat was weathered to make it look well worn because, as you may know by now, I like things much more that way!

 

The below images show two examples of the same chair; the one on the left in its original condition, and next to it the one which received my 'treatment'. 

For some reason, a chair that looks old and 'tired' is much more attractive to me that a new and shiny one! Same goes for interiors and furniture in general, not only in the miniatures world, but also in my own apartment. So, if my mom should decide to visit me and started asking when I'm gonna paint that ceiling or replace what's broken, I would invariably say: "Leave it, mom, it's industrial!"

This is it for now! I hope you liked it, and look forward to welcome you again here for the next update on this special project!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project update: a white metal radiator takes shape.

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing well! Here's a new, pictorial update for my ongoing "Verwandlung" project';  a room box dedicated to the immortal Franz Kafka and his famous story "The Metamorphosis".

Today I'm sharing the work on a white metal radiator. It consists of a kit which was easily assembled, but which took many layers of paint to get to the final result. I think it was worth the effort, though. It will be added to the room box in due course, but I thought it would be nice to share it with you already.

This image and above: the radiator -still unassembled- after receiving two paint layers.

This image and below: the final result!

This is it for now! I hope you liked it, and look forward to welcome you again here for the next update on this special project!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project update: a nice window is installed.

Today I'm discussing a window I installed as part of my current 'Metamorphosis' project. And although discussing 'a window' does not seem particularly exciting, I do feel that it deserves some attention. What I like about this particular window style, is that it has one panel opening outwards, instead of the usual sliding panels. Somehow I felt this would be more suitable for my room box, which is supposedly part of an apartment building. So I ordered it online, and waited with great anticipation.

When it arrived, I noticed that, although the window was beautiful, its finishing could have been done better. For instance, the perspex of the fixed windows came separately, and didn't have the wooden jambs needed for the inside face of the window, i.e. the side facing the interior of the room box. So basically I had to do them myself with thin pieces of wood. More wood was needed anyway, because the walls of my room box are 1 cm (0.39 inches) thick, which is much thicker than your average room box or dolls house wall. Adding extra wood on the inside 'bridged' the open space and created a perfect fit!

This image: the window didn't have any jambs on the inside, so I made my own.

This image: the wood looks lovingly weathered!

I'm pretty happy with the end result. The window looks lovely and wonderfully weathered. And all that extra wood makes it more interesting to look at, as well as quite realistic!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project update: the floor takes shape.

After finishing the huge -and highly complicated- 'Jane of the Attic' project, which took me months to complete, I decided that my next one would be of a more 'modest' scale: a room box measuring roughly 25x30x26 cm (9,8x11,8x10,2 inches) would suffice. 

However, there would be no cutting corners here: the room box was to be designed and built from scratch, in the same way I did the attic, with removable walls and 'unconventional' construction techniques. The walls were to be built around a single, more or less square room with a window and a door; pretty straightforward, really.

This image and below: room box under construction.

The project's name is "Die Verwandlung", which is German for "The Metamorphosis", and is inspired by the famous book of the same name authored by Franz Kafka, and published in 1915. It is a personal tribute to this enigmatic writer, who lived to be only 40 years old, yet has had such a profound influence in European literature.

Today I'll discuss the floor of the room box; normally not such an exciting subject, but I'll do my best to make it interesting all the same.

The base consists of a piece of triplex, topped with a 'parquet' floor made out of popsicle sticks. You can see from the coloring of some of them, that they were actually used as such! Specially the lilac ones clearly show their previous life as a popsicle stick. This proves that even a simple, disposable item can get a second life in a room box. So.... please recycle, people!

Above image: after being put in place, the popsicle sticks were slightly sanded over  to give them more structure, while at the same time making them smoother to the touch. The coloring still shows on some of the sticks, but is much less evident than before the sanding. The sticks were placed leaving some space between them at places, because I felt that gives the floor more 'character'.

Then came the English wax, which was applied unevenly on the surface to create differences in coloring. The uniqueness of the structure of each stick added to their 'individuality', when it was further highlighted by the wax.

Below is a general view of the floor, where you can clearly see its uneven and weathered structure. If you look closely, you'll still be able to see the lilac colored sticks. I could have easily removed it (or simply have used other sticks instead), but I felt that it added to the general appearance of the floor!

The below images show the room's door, which evidently had some weathering of it's own. It's covered by several layers of paint of different colors, that are partially revealed at places.

Last but not least here's an image of the other side of the door, which has a more 'conventional' finish than the side facing the inside of the room.
As you can see here, the (removable) walls still lack their skirting and cornices, as well as some weathering to be sure! Likewise, the door still needs a frame. But that will come. After all, this is a room box under construction!

 
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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

A new project: Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis]

With the Attic project finished, I decided to embark on a new one, inspired by the writer of a world famous book. The writer's name is Franz Kafka (1883-1924), and his world famous book is titled "The Metamorphosis" (or, in German: "Die Verwandlung").

I invite you to to join me as I work on a room box that, once finished, will be my personal tribute to one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, and his unforgettable , surreal story.

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.