Fetch Him Back! Let Him Not Go!

A séance or seance is an attempt to communicate with spirits.

Wetplate by Julie Loen

Fetch Him Back! Let Him Not Go! is my first diorama.

I started experimenting with ideas and techniques in 2011, and this very first scene was completed in 2015.

I finally found the look I wanted.

The scene is a gathering of characters performing a seance, using a Spirit Trumpet as their tool to communicate with ghosts.

The first version. A cosy teaparty playing with a ouijaboard.

I turned it into a serious seance.

At the tailor

The fabrics I used for making the outfits were mainly cut from clothes after my grandparents.

A pair of striped suspenders make great trousers. Using vintage fabrics and lace is essential. The clothes need to have a history.

Creating miniature art

Drawing, painting in oil or watercolors… Then creating the frames, often using old belt buckles or pieces of jewellery

Wetplates by Julie Loen

The fireplace

When I started on my first diorama, I didn’t think I would ever be able to create all the things I would need. But as time has gone by, my skills have improved. I am now creating everything in the dioramas.

I have decided to keep the first ones as they are and not change things. I find it interesting to see the evolution of my work.

However, I have changed two things in this first diorama: The fireplace, and the painting hanging over it.

The new painting.  Eggoil tempera on canvas 10×10 cm.

A Tragedy in New York

Once upon a time this little mouse traveled with me to New York to meet my friends. One of their cats caught her, and we found the mouse later that night, in a very sad condition. Back in Norway, she went through polymer clay surgery and some arm and leg reconstruction. A visit to the tailor, and she could return to her seance.

Victorian spirit trumpets