Japanese Themed Led Lit Landscapes With Depth.

I had the idea to make a Japanese themed piece which would take 2d scenes and landscapes and layer them in such a way to give them some 3d depth. I placed led lights between the scenes to give it a nigh scene effect and placed a led behind the moon as well which during the day it looks like the sun but at night the moon.

Various sizes of craft sticks

Round wooden dowels

Super Glue, hot glue, elmers glue

Various colors of acrylic paint

Plastic sheets thin but sturdy

Printer Paper

Foam spacers

Led lights

Thick card stock

The tree pruners are a must if you cut any craft sticks or dowels they are perfect and make it much easier. Note that I use 2 different types of scissors. The bandage cutter scissors I've had for 30 years and they provide you with much better control in small space cuts. The regular scissors are better for long straight cuts. Hot glue gun is of course a must.

The image to begin with is the one at the back or farthest away from you when facing the scenes. I first cut all the images out square and then used plastic sheets to super glue over the images to provide strength to the printer paper and allow light to flow through from the back. Also some of the scenes I used acrylic paints on top the plastic to give it a bit more color and depth.

For the frame I started with the back image (farthest away) and used super glue to glue the wood pieces to the plastic over the images around the edges. I used the wood pruners to make perfect precise cuts. I built up the sides using foam double sided stick pads to provide a more solid stable connection for the side wood trim pieces. I used super glue to bond all together because it bonds much faster than hot glue and is far neater.

Next I added the led lights between each scene and hot glued them into place while making sure they in best possible position to light up the scenes. I put 2 of the led's under the moon (or daytime it's the sun). I then super glued the battery box to the wood frame. I cut thick card stock to super glue onto the back to hide the wiring. I hot glued around the battery box where the card stock meets up with it for added strength. I then painted everything and added a tree to the back. The battery box has the on off switch built in which is nice.

As you can see the led lights make the scenes look much different depending on the brightness of the room and last 4 pics the led's are off . The bottom part has a fisherman in the background behind the little boy and girl. I wanted the effect that the children were standing on a bridge which overlooks a pond. Then as you move back each scene is farther away. All in all it was a pretty simple project and a lot of fun to create. I'm already thinking about doing some other theme maybe something modern or futuristic. Hope you enjoy and I hope it might lead to you making something similar with your own ideas.