I was absolutely fascinated by the movie "Titanic."  Cameron's introduction of two fictional characters, Jack and Rose, made the story come alive for me.  I wanted Jack and Rose to remain together forever where they belonged, in First Class.  The only scene I could recreate that would allow this was the moment they met at the bottom of the stairs the night Jack was invited to dinner in First Class.  Jack reached out his hand, took Kate's in his and  said, "I saw that in a nickelodeon once and I always wanted to try it."

Very Intricate Work

This project took 18 months to complete, because of the technical intricacies involved.  Each piece had to be specially engineered to fit in with the others.  An expert engineer and woodworker, George Burgess, engineered and built the staircase itself with its sloping banisters.  Gary LaPorta, of Miniatures in the Attic, helped me decide what order to do things in, so they'd all go together properly.  It was very much a team effort and  I appreciate their help immensely.

Special Techniques

Everything in the box (which is a 31" cube) had to be wood-grained, so all the wood would match.  Ray Whitledge taught me how to do the wood-graining.  It's best if you can do all the wood-graining at one time, so your brushstrokes and colors will be consistent, but in this case I had to do some of it later (like the staircase itself, which hadn't been built when I did the walls, columns, etc.).

Bas-relief Created in Clay

I created the sculpture behind the clock from Fimo, a clay which bakes in the oven.  I drew a grid over a photo of the original bas-relief and duplicated the shapes I saw there.  After painting it with KILZ and wood-graining it, it looked almost exactly like the original.

Using Computer Graphics

The part of the staircase between the banisters is computer graphics on transparencies.  We had some experts scan in a photo of the gold and wrought iron work and enhance it.  Then we cut grooves for the transparencies in the bottom of the top banister and the top of the bottom banister and "popped" them in.

Jack and Rose Come to Life

The Jack and Rose dolls are by Carol Kubesh of Carol's Creations in Minneapolis.  She caught their poses and expressions so perfectly, I expect them to speak at any time.  I sent her photos and she duplicated them exactly, down to creating the fabric of Rose's dress.  Jack is the best-dressed male doll I've seen to date, so I had to change their poses a bit so you could get a glimpse of his wonderful tux.

Collage of Photos

The outside of the box is painted black and is covered with a collage of photos and memorabilia from the Titanic.  You can read more about my Titanic in the April 2001 issue of Miniature Collector magazine.

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