Maker Faire Bay Area 2024
Jen Schachter Diorama Kits and Props
Home: California, United States
Step inside the spooky, whimsical world of artist and fabricator Jen Schachter: a tiny haunted house inside a carved pumpkin, enticing prop slices of fake cake, and the towering EVA foam wig that was featured on the cover of Make last year! Get an up-close look at Jen’s creative process - sketchbook pages which come to life as foamcore prototypes and eventually finished dioramas and props. Meet the artist, watch her demo some miniature finishing techniques, and pick up your own pumpkin diorama kit to build at home!
https://www.jenschachter.com/marie-antoinette-wig
Makers
Jen Schachter
Jen Schachter is a multimedia artist and fabricator who designs everything from props and set pieces for television and live events, to laser cut diorama kits of miniature worlds, sharing her process on "Adam Savage's Tested" YouTube channel. Jen has built custom installations for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the White House, taught maker workshops all over the country and internationally, and was featured last year on the cover of Make: in her towering Marie Antoinette Wig!
https://www.jenschachter.com/
What Inspired You to Make This?
There are few things I love more than Halloween and dioramas, so I was delighted by the idea of putting a miniature haunted house inside a pumpkin! I drew inspiration from some of my favorite dark fantasy films and art: Edward Gorey, Pan’s Labyrinth, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Addams Family. I wanted the house to have an organic, almost illustrated quality, so instead of modeling in CAD, I used a drawing tablet and digital brush tool to "sketch" the design with crooked walls and plenty of quirky details. I stacked layers of plywood to add depth and even disguised the telltale laser cut finger joints as slats! For my Marie Antoinette cosplay, I referenced political cartoons of her outlandish hairdo and pop culture depictions throughout history. I exaggerated the scale of the wig and foam cake slice to the point of caricature, and took some stylistic liberties when choosing the dress, accessories, and makeup for an “80’s-glam-meets-Versailles” mashup.
