Review - Oxygen Oasis DIY Miniature House from Rolife

I received this kit in exchange for a review

Oxygen Oasis is a brand new miniature house kit from Rolife. This advanced miniature kit is a beautiful glass house, packed with luscious tropical plants, flitting butterflies, and filled with gorgeous tiny details. The kit contains 1168 pieces, is recommended for ages 14+, and comes with a six star Master difficulty level. 

You can find full details of the kit here - Rolife Miniature House - Oxygen Oasis.

The Oxygen Oasis kit was definitely the most complex miniature kit that I've assembled. In my Rolife reviews I always say that before you attempt one you should check the difficulty level because there is a large variation. My first kit was Cathy's Flower House, and I've since discovered that it is one of the most difficult Rolife kits along with Elsa's Tailoring! If you are new to miniature modelling kits then this might be one to save until you've gained some practice.

Building the Oxygen Oasis took me several weeks, working on it almost every day. Almost everything is built from scratch, with tiny leaves to be glued to twisted wire stems, delicate wooden pieces that slot together, and plenty of opportunity to put your own stamp on the build.

I must admit that I felt quite intimidated when I opened the box! There are lots of pieces, including plenty of plastic sheets that form the windows. Some of the pieces are very intricate, and I could tell from the contents that there were going to be lots of plants to make - something that I've found very fiddly with these kits in the past.

However the instructions are clear, easy to follow, and lead you in gently. The first part that caught my eye in the main picture was the dome - it looked so complicated with all the curved grass and detailed frames! However by the time I reached it I had already built the simpler back door and the slightly more difficult front door, and so I felt ready to tackle it. And of course it was fine in the end, I just took it slowly, made sure that I had all the parts that I needed ready, and followed the instructions carefully.

The next part of the kit involved making the main base. I always enjoy this part of the kit because you begin to get an idea of the size and shape of the finished piece. As always I got all the parts ready before I started, and there are lots to prepare for this section. It is mostly constructed with wooden pieces but there is also some paper cutting to be done carefully by hand - you'll want a pair of sharp scissors with small points for easy snipping.

Just a note on the glue that is included - most of the Rolife kits that I've worked on aren't supplied with glue, instead you adhere pieces using tiny strips of double sided tape. This kit does include glue and it's fantastic - it has a tiny little nozzle to help with the application and it dries really quickly. Double sided tape is still used for some areas, and again this works very well.

Here is the base section made from the pieces on the tray above:

Next come the various components to add to each side of the base. Some of the work on this kit is quite fiddly and I often found that I needed to use the included tweezers. But there is so much more satisfaction to be gained from building a tiny set of stairs from scratch than just slotting in a pre-made plastic piece!

One the main base is complete it's time to return to building the actual greenhouse, this time by assembling the two side pieces. These were straightforward to put together - the pieces for this section are made of plastic and they snap together easily, then you add plastic sheets to the inside to form the windows. You also add some tiny strip lighting underneath the roof, and all the wires are neatly hidden inside plastic tubing which is glued to the inside.

Now that the structure is assembled it's time to move on to the plants and trees. I knew that this would be the most time consuming part of the build, having spent a lot of time making plants for the Cathy's Flower House kit. You are provided with lots of sheets of pre-cut, double sided paper printed pieces, and some of these leaves are very tiny!

The plants are assembled in groups. Some are fitted into their final sections straightaway and some need to be set aside for a later step. They are labelled by letter and so I found it helpful to lay them out on a sheet of scrap paper against their letter so that I could easily identify them later on.

These plants did take a long time to make! Each of the sections above took several hours. The assembly can be very fiddly - first you have to bend wire into the correct shape, then fold tiny leaves and petals and glue them carefully into place before leaving them to dry thoroughly. I was really grateful here for the excellent glue included in the kit. 

Once I got going the process did speed up. I worked in batches, first getting all the wire bases ready then gluing on the leaves one plant at a time. I used a long strip of Blu-tak on my desk to hold the plants upright while they were drying which was really helpful. 

I found that the labels for the plants were so tiny that I couldn't read them, so I didn't worry too much about making sure that the correct one was attached to each plant. I also tried not to get too frustrated if I was having trouble with the fiddly parts, I think they still look good even if some parts are a little wonky.

Next came some larger plants and trees to build, each of which involves winding together different sized pieces of wire to create stems, trunks and branches, wrapping with coloured tape, and then gluing on the leaves. These pieces took a lot of time to complete, especially waiting for the glue to dry on one side so so that you could add leaves to the other side. It took me over an hour to build the two monstera plants! But I really enjoyed making them, and they all look amazing when they are complete!

When all of the individual pieces had been built it was time for the final assembly. First you need to attach all the plants to the base piece. I'll be honest, this part wasn't easy. Some of the leaves fell off and needed to be reattached, and there was a lot of fiddling around to make sure that the plants all fitted neatly around each other. The kit comes with plenty of a green filler type material that you can add around the base of the plants, but I found it so difficult to get to stick that I didn't use as much as I should have. Luckily you can't really see it from the outside anyway!

Finally you need to fit the glass house structure around the plants, make sure that it all firmly glued down, and add a few final touches around the sides. The wires for the lighting need to be connected to the battery box, a large tree is positioned to the side, a cute cat with a butterfly stuck to its nose stands at the front and some paper parrots add some extra colour.

Adding the vine across the top was one of my favourite parts of the build. I left it until the end, and I really enjoyed placing the last leaves and making it all look exactly how I wanted it to.

The lighting in this kit is rather magical. As well as a larger central light there is also a small light strip underneath each side section. The lights are bright, and I love the way that you can see everything inside really clearly. The clear windows also cast gorgeous shadows on the space around it. The lights are powered using two AAA batteries which you need to supply.

I really loved the opportunity to get stuck in to working on this kit. I found that I could sit for ages carefully twisting wire into the required shapes, adding the leaves with dots of glue, and even just sitting waiting for the glue to dry while admiring what I had built. 

This is probably not the kit to start with if you are new to miniature kit building, but I would absolutely recommend it if you fancy something a bit more challenging. It will definitely feel like value for money when it comes to the time taken to complete it!

What puts a Rolife kit into the more advanced category?

This kit definitely falls into the category of the more difficult Rolife kits. Here are some of the things that make a kit more difficult:

The kits contains a lot more pieces, and most of them are very small and delicate.

Some of the paper cuttings and other materials are not pre-cut, so you need to cut and measure them yourself. There are few, if any, stickers and so most paper pieces need to be glued together.

Overall there is a lot more gluing involved, sometimes quite fiddly. Most of the components need to be built from scratch by attaching tiny pieces together.

Most of the kit is made of natural materials like wood, paper and fabric - there is very little plastic.

There are a lot more steps to the assembly and some stages can take a bit of time, for example if you need to wait for glue or paint to dry.

Note - some of the older kits have been re-issued and are now less challenging than the original kits. 

What I like about working on a difficult kit

For me a craft is all about the process, so when a kit takes longer to put together you have plenty of time to enjoy it. I don't mind waiting for something to dry, it feels much more satisfying than just snapping pieces together.

I feel like a have a little more creative control, for example when it comes to the shaping of plants or the positioning of individual pieces.

Tips for working with a more complex kit

Don't get overwhelmed, and take your time. You will initially open the box to see a huge number of pieces, but each step only uses a few at a time.

Stay organised. Don't remove things from the numbered bags until you need them, and get all the pieces ready for each section before you begin. Set up a workspace with an area to store completed components until you need them.

Work on one step at a time and don't be tempted to skip ahead unless you are completely confident in what you are doing. 

If you aren't sure which piece to use you can double check them against the parts guide. This is very important as some pieces can look very similar.

If you fancy trying one of the more complicated Rolife kits you can find a good selection here - More difficult kits from Rolife.

You may like to see my other Rolife Miniature Craft Kit reviews:

Cathy's Flower House - another complicated kit with lots of plants and flowers to build

Elsa's Tailoring - an intricate kit with lots of fabric pieces to measure and display

Corner Bookstore - a lovely bookshop with assorted tiny books to put together

Silent Corner Study - a really sweet book nook, perfect to display on a bookshelf

Super Creator Kits - Fascinating Bookstore, Lovely Pink Bedroom and Sweet Sips Tea - some simpler kits which are great for older children and those new to this hobby

Gingerbread House - a gorgeous festive shop filled with Christmas treats

Christmas 3D Frames - lovely Christmas decor frames with intricate details

Rolife Corner Bookstore kit