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A room box is a display box used for three-dimensional
miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or proble ...
scale environments, or
scale models Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...
. Although the name would suggest room boxes generally only represent typical rooms such as those found in houses or other buildings (bedrooms, kitchens, offices, etc.), room boxes are used for all sorts of environments – exterior views as well as interior ones, realistic ones as well as fantastical ones. While some miniaturists concentrate their efforts specifically on room boxes, many use them to take a break from larger projects, such as dollhouses or miniature villages, to create a smaller environment on a different theme. A room box can be tailored to one’s interests or mirror an important step in life - for example, a bakery or restaurant scene might be created by or for a baker or cook, and a wedding dress storefront might be created for a bride to be or as a reminiscence of one's wedding. Making a room box is often a first step to learning new techniques in miniature making; such projects are popular at miniaturists' events where attendees have only 1–2 days to make and finish a project. Once techniques are perfected in these smaller settings, craftspersons and hobbyists often reapply them to larger projects. Room boxes are a cost- and time-effective way to make miniature settings without attempting larger setups such as a
dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North Americ ...
or train set. Commercially bought room boxes tend to be made of wood, pressed wood products or plywood, with the top and front window made of removable clear acrylic that lets in light and enables access and viewing from two perspectives. Dimensions usually meet standard dollhouse proportions ("1:12 scale" in dollhouse speak means that 1" in the dollhouse world represents 1' in the real world), but anyone can make a room box from a leftover shoebox, orange crate, etc. and adapt an idea to suit the box's scale. Since any material can be used, whether leftover or new, people of all economic classes express themselves through this craft. One elaborate example of 1:12 scale miniature rooms are the 68 miniature '' Thorne Rooms'', each with a different theme, were designed by
Narcissa Niblack Thorne Narcissa Niblack Thorne (May 2, 1882 – June 25, 1966) was an American artist known for her extremely detailed miniature rooms. Her works depict historical interiors from Europe, Asia and North America from the late 13th to the early 20th ce ...
and furniture for them was created by craftsmen in the 1930s and 1940s. They are now at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
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Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...
.Thorne Miniature Rooms - The Art Institute of Chicago
/ref> As evidenced in the recent increase in craft book and magazine publishing on different types of miniatures, interest in making room-boxes for miniature settings has steadily grown since the 1990s. Room boxes have even found a place during prime-time television: the winter 2007 season of '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' included a clever storyline recurring throughout the season, where a murderer named The Miniature Killer leaves clues for investigators in the form of intricately made 3-D room boxes showing scenes of the crimes she committed, reproduced in scale miniature.


See also

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Model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
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Scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototype ...
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Dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North Americ ...
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Model building Model building is a hobby and career that involves the creation of physical models either from kits or from materials and components acquired by the builder. The kits contain several pieces that need to be assembled in order to make a final mode ...


References

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