Description
Like many adults, I’m still enthralled by the magic of my favourite books from childhood. I love settling down with a good tale of an imaginary magical land, where good battles evil (and good always wins). I guess it’s a kind of escapism from the humdrum of everyday life 🙂
My latest Lantin, ‘The King in the Cupboard’, is inspired by many of my favourite children’s fantasy tales, and so I’ve built this one to look like a book – well, as close as you can get to a book when your starting point is a metal tin with a hinged lid!
To the outside I’ve added plain white vinyl along the top and right hand sides to represent pages. The front and ‘spine’ are covered in leather-textured vinyl, onto which I’ve heat embossed a little illustration reflecting what’s inside, and the title of the ‘book’, to make it look more like a book’s cover.
When you open the cover of the book, you’re greeted by a fancy cupboard (made from pearlised brown and gold card) on a brightly-coloured, patterned ‘wallpaper’ background. To each side of the cupboard are gold-framed ‘paintings’; one of a lion, the other a photo of Criccieth castle at sunset which I took about 15 years ago; this latter picture is a nod to my monthly craft fairs at Criccieth Memorial Hall.
Using gold-coloured paper fasteners for doorknobs, the cupboard doors are opened to reveal the fairy tale world inside.
The base layer of the fantasy country is a very dark blue pearlised card, onto which I’ve affixed die-cut 3D fir trees as well as 2D trees and a full-width tree limb with vines hanging from it. The vegetation is all die cut from white pearlised card.
The next layer features another two white pearlised trees (a different shape to the first layer), and the ‘king’ – a lion wearing a gold crown.
Layer 3 has yet more white pearlised trees – again a different shape – with a lit street lamp, a squirrel, a rabbit and a bird, all cut from pearlised card in different colours.
Layer 4, immediately behind the cupboard doors, is a forest scene cut into more pearlised white card, with two silhouetted figures (a girl and a faun) under an umbrella, walking towards the King in the Cupboard (the lion). I actually commissioned a unique cutting die for the girl and faun, which was made just for me from a rough sketch I provided. You won’t find this die being sold anywhere, it’s 100% mine!
The three layers between front and back are all made from acetate with the die cuts affixed, so that (like my Polar Express Lantin) I was able to adhere little snowflakes in layers to give a real sense of depth to the finished scene.
The lights inside this Lantin are warm white.
Many hours of work go into each King in the Cupboard Lantin, as well as several rather expensive materials, so the price of this one is a little higher than any of my other Lantins.
This is a large rectangular Lantin, measuring approximately 19.5 x 15.3 x 7.6cm. It is presented in a Mooshkin branded cotton drawstring bag which also contains a 1m USB extension cord to give you a little extra reach in case your shelf and electrical socket have a bit of distance between them.
Note: you will need a USB plug (such as is used for charging a mobile phone) or a USB power bank – neither of which are supplied with the Lantin. While my Lantins will undoubtedly be attractive to children, please exercise caution and keep the Lantin and its cables out of reach of tiny hands.
