Maybe it's an informal instant party somewhere on a rich farmstead in Scandinavia? Or maybe one of the big market towns of the North such as Birka or Hedeby? Without doubt this is somewhere in the ancient area of modern day Sweden, Norway or Denmark. The era? Sometime in the 8th, 9th, or 10th centuries.
I'm not exactly sure what's going on here. A young lady wearing skins, including cat skin gloves and several charms, is making a lot of noise with with her rattle. Obviously in a state of ecstatic "otherworldliness", she dances on a table. A gray-fleshed, one-eyed stranger shows up at the door - did her commotion summon him? Is he accompanied by a couple of wolves and ravens just outside the scene? Are those her nervous parents looking on? And who is the drunken uncle(?), passed out after too much of everything? Meanwhile the dog sleeps contentedly through it all......make up your own story.
Technical notes:
It's a basic shadow box with its own lighting system, which unfortunately seldom photographs well.
The figures are all wooden armatures built up and fleshed out with Durham's Water Putty and Duro Epoxy Ribbon. Details are made from the usual assortment of wood and plastic bits plus kneaded Duro and carved Durham's.
The bread and apple on the table are Durham's,"wet carved" before it has set hard; the chicken bones are heat stretched sprue from a plastic model kit, held over a flame and formed while still good and "melty". The various weapons are sheet plastic with wood where appropriate. Also, alot of wires of various diameters and types were twisted into much of the decorations of many of the objects - the beer urn in the corner, the hanging cooking pot, the helmet on the wall, etc.
The "lumber" for the room itself came from the mystery scrap pile - I'm not sure what it is! I added a few knots, then pegged it all together, followed by an assortment of stains, color enhancements and general crud applications.
Most of the things in this box are patterned after genuine artifacts from digs all over Northern Europe, and a 2' tall pile of books was consulted. Eras are mixed somewhat - there are early implements, and objects that may be from a slightly later epoch. In cases where there is no direct prototype, I tried to capture the main design elements of that broad place and time. The clothing, jewelry, food, fire pit, tapestry, weapons, et al, are as accurate as I could make them at the time (if I ever attempt something like this again, it will be better!). I'll mention one main deviation - I added a wooden floor, whereas generally these ancient Scandinavian buildings would've only had packed dirt....I just wanted a floor.
The vaguely whimsical figures painted on the exterior box sides are so-called "gripping beasts', odd little creatures who seemed to delight in choking themselves. I designed these, but they're based on solid motifs from the era. My take on them wouldn't have startled any native 10th century Northern European who happened to be walking by.
And closing, I have to mention that the big energy burst that yielded this project was supplied by Shep Paine's classic book How to Build Dioramas and its chapter on shadow boxes. I got a copy when it first came out and the pressure to do something after seeing Shep's magnificent work became unbearable...so the Viking Party Box was born.