Donna's diorama entry

From waffles to flowers! Here's a look at another outstanding 2026 BreyerFest Diorama Contest entry.

The Beetle's Ride

by Donna Houchins

This diorama is inspired by the Odense Flower Festival, which takes place in Odense, Denmark every August. It is part of the H.C. Andersen Festivals celebrating Hans Christian Andersen, who was born in Odense in 1805. Each year has its own theme centered around the worlds created by H C Andersen. Large scale, creative flower and plant displays interpret the annual theme.

While H C Andersen is famous for many fairy tales that have been retold throughout the world, he also wrote a wealth of stories that are now more obscure. My diorama depicts one of his stories that centers on a beetle and a horse – “The Beetle Who Went on his Travels”.

In this depiction, the beetle is riding on the mane of the Emperor’s horse who wears golden horseshoes. It is created with dried plant material over the Breyer Freedom Scale “Brabant” horse, and depicts a floral installation as may be seen in Odense during the festival. The beetle is created with leaves and twigs. There are approximately 2500 small dried flowers in this diorama!

I had a lot of fun making this, though at times I was questioning my life choices while gluing on tiny flowers with tweezers!!  

Thank you for sharing your entry with us, Donna. This is wonderful. I doubt you'll need it, but good luck at BreyerFest!