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Interest
Papercraft Totoro House is a Labor of Love

posted on by Chris Nishijima
House has 1,800 individually cut tiles lining the roof alone.

When someone has true love for a fandom, it makes them want to do amazing things for it. Niconico Douga user Kurosuke may have just proven himself to be the biggest Studio Ghibli fan on the face of the planet. After two and a half full years of working on his personal project, Kurosuke has posted a video production log of his handmade papercraft replica of the Kusakabe family's iconic house from My Neighbor Totoro.

The main base of the house was built using two frames available in the commercial papercraft model kits, one with a traditional Japanese household layout, and one with a more western style exterior. After cutting them out and adding color and fine details to both of them, he had to carefully attach them together with their roofs intact.

Kurosuke poured as much hard work into building this house as Mei, Satsuki, and their father put into fixing it up in the opening scene of the movie. He even went so far as to add grass, trees, laundry lines, and stained glass in the window panes. The finished result is a spot on look alike of the original that got him first prize in a papercraft competition.

But the final touch that Kurosuke gave it is the real clincher. Thinking that the painted rooftop was a little too lackluster, the papercraft artist then went on to color, cut, and attach 1,800 individual tiny scraps of paper to apply individual roof tiles to the top of the house. He did the same with another section of the house, pressing tiles with a wooden texture to give them a worn down look.

If this anyone finds themselves inspired by this work of art, they could always try their hand at papercraft themselves with the same kit that Kurosuke used to create the base of his masterpiece. Hopefully there will be more of Kurosuke's handiwork revealed in the years to come. Perhaps a papercraft model of the bathhouse from Spirited Away is in order?

[Via Rocketnews24]


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