I created a diorama inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away featuring the spirit No Face (カオナシ). You can learn more about No Face and his role in the film here.
Spirited Away Diorama: Making the Feast
The feast was crafted with miniature ceramic dishes, polymer clay, chalk pastels, and model paints.
Sculpting No Face
No Face was sculpted with polymer clay. Only the face on his mask was painted with model paints.
Making the Big Bath
The big bath was made with tin foil structure filler, polymer clay, chalk pastels, model washes, and matte varnish. The bathwater was then poured with blue-tinted polyurethane plastic resin. The No Face sculpture was placed in the bath to cure.
Making the Wood Platform Base
Plywood was used to create the bathhouse floor that serves as a base for the diorama. The base was cut, glued, sanded, and then coated with clear epoxy resin.
Spirited Away Diorama Additional Components
Other components from the film were also added, including the roasted newt, onigiri, the bitter herb dumpling Sen receives from the river god, bath tokens, and gold nuggets No Face produces to tip the bath house workers. All these components were sculpted with polymer clay and then the bath tokens were painted.
Finishing Touches
All elements were then glued to the finished, cured base. Touchups were added with matte and gloss varnishes (e.g., adding gloss to the gold nuggets to make them shinier).
And that’s it! The Spirited Away diorama will now be displayed in my home.
I sell things in my shop and also occasionally accept custom orders and commissions. The Spirited Away diorama featuring No Face is not available for sale.