Leather Diorama

The Narrows

This realistic diorama with fiberoptic fireflies
placed 1st in The World Leather Debut
and made the cover of the Leather
Crafters Journal in the March/April 2022 issue. It was also featured in a book
later that same year.

by Tony Allen Bernier

Up close view of the dioramas pine tree forest floor covered with dried pine needles and bits of branches.
Diorama river flowing past a rock face with pine trees.
Tiny diorama fish laying on the table ready to be placed into the scene.

Two tiny leather fish swimming up stream. They’re about the size of a drop of water.

Two tiny fish embedded in the river as if they're swimming up stream.
Up close view of a diorama looking through pine trees
Overhead view of a diorama river flowing over a bed of rocks.
Tiny diorama birds nest sitting on the tip of a finger, and another one in a tree.
Diorama rock face.
View of a diorama river flowing past rocks grasses and pine trees from an angle making it look like you're standing in the field.
Rippling flowing diorama stream.
Diorama at night with bright fireflies flickering in the distance..

Different sized fiber optics were ran up through the ground from a small led box with flickering and dimming effects to create realistic fireflies in the lower field of the diorama.

Large picture of the full diorama showing all its detail.
Diorama sitting on display with a 1st place ribbon at the world leather debut.
Tony smiling while holding his first place ribbon in front of his diorama.

Check back for the Blog documenting the process. For now you’re welcome to watch a video on making a small deciduous tree using these techniques. There’s also a video talking about the process a bit here,
and a Blog article on how to make the diorama rocks