top of page
IMG_20221005_122245006.jpg
IMG_20221111_155440044_edited.jpg
IMG_20221005_103040059.jpg

Our Group:

- Harry Griffin

- Victoria Clayton 

- Will Russel

- Jacob Louro-Lopez

Our brief for this project was to design, plan and create a display or artifact to place within Newstead Abbey for its Christmas season centred around Alice in wonderland. 

Our Visit to Newstead Abbey

I have collected a range of the imagery that I took on our visit to Newstead Abbey. We spent the morning exploring the sections of the Abbey, looking closely at the details, patterns and motifs around the house to gain inspiration for our Alice project.  

7D6E1E4B-CED0-42D3-AEEF-3EA12E5FFB0F.jpeg
IMG_20221005_102005936_HDR.jpg
IMG_20221005_110445297.jpg
IMG_20221005_111055122.jpg
IMG_20221005_112531334.jpg

Researching and Developing Ideas

We worked as a group to create a mind map of all of our initial thoughts, looking at characters that we liked, scenes from the book we gained inspiration from, ideas about colour and sound and possible ways to gather research. 

​

We then each chose an idea from this mind map to develop. I chose to create a design for the Cheshire cat scavenger hunt.

IMG_20221005_103925825.jpg
IMG_20221005_104103941.jpg
IMG_20221005_105856165.jpg
IMG_20221005_110500825.jpg
IMG_20221005_110238812.jpg
IMG_20221123_151332853_edited.jpg

The Cheshire cat

I created a range of Cheshire cat faces to present to my group taking inspiration from Tim Burton's 2010 Cheshire cat (Burton, 2010), from playing cards, jam tarts, Christmas and even wallpaper I found at Newstead Abbey as I liked the link its created between the Abbey and Wonderland.

Although my group did like this idea, we discussed how if other groups used Cheshire cats, they may get confused in the scavenger hunt and it could become difficult to tell the pieces apart, so we looked at using the basic face shape within an idea that incorporated everyone's initial ideas and skills.

(Burton,2010) 

Refining Ideas

We combined our ideas, creating a concept for a series of light boxes, each based around a character or scene from the story stacked onto of one another to create a structure that could sit in one of the rooms in Newstead Abbey. Victoria created a sketch of this idea that we could each work from.

 

Four of us then began to refine our box designs ready to place onto illustrator. We allocated the construction of the boxes and lights to the fifth member of our group as model making was a skill of theirs. 

tmp_e475f42e-466d-4029-b88a-4f89b84a514a.jpeg

Victoria's initial design

 

​

IMG_20221111_155451713_edited.jpg

Creating My Box

I began by drawing out my design in my sketchbook so that I had an idea what I wanted the final product to look like. I could also show this to my group before beginning to develop to check that it would work with their boxes. I used my earlier design inspired by playing cards for the face as I felt that one was the most effective design using elements from the story to create a unique Cheshire cat.

​

I then used illustrator to draw layers that could be laser cut to create the inserts for the light box.

layer 6.png
layer 5.png
Screenshot 2022-11-11 164356_edited.jpg

The Tail

The tail took a lot of experimentation, so I played around with different ways of using card and as a group we decided the spiral was the most effective. I created spirals out of a range of coloured card, some thicker and some thinner, and stuck them all together to create the final piece.

​

I enjoyed this experimentation and think that developing this skill of investigation was a great outcome from this project however, it has been questioned whether it was a

necessary addition during feedback so being more 

selective about the style of the final piece and what

goes onto it next time would be beneficial and I will

take this feedback with me into future projects. 

layer 4.png
layer 3.png
layer 1 new.png
IMG_20221111_160743933.jpg
IMG_20221116_101917386.jpg
IMG_20221115_150053640.jpg

Our Building Process

- Harry sent our illustrator designs to the technicians who work on the laser cutters to be cut

​

- Harry and Will then worked on creating the outer boxes with Albert helping us source material we could recycle and cut the larger two. 

​

- Victori worked on the outside of the boxes creating book ends for one side and using book pages and her own illustrations for the other.

​

- Me and Harry stuck the laser cut pieces together to create the inserts for the now three boxes 

​

- Will added additional lighting to these inserts so that the layers could be seen more clearly.

 

- I created the labels and instructions to go alongside our piece while the others gathered gels to colour the light coming through the back of the boxes.

​

- We then tested the lighting to make sure we were all happy with it before packaging it ready for transport. 

IMG_20221118_125035821.jpg
43A41513-9A87-42A4-913E-C658BDA92E01.png
cheshire cat.jpg

(Tenniel, 1865)

Reflection

I am pleased with our final piece and feel my group worked hard to bring our designs to life. I think we collaborated well and have created an effective piece that tells the story of Alice's journey through Wonderland. Although I would ultimately like to have seen all four boxes created, I feel the three boxes that did get created work closely to the brief and show of each of our skills and ideas.

 

We bought all of our ideas together to create our design, really pulling together everyone’s strengths which I think helped to make our final product successful as everyone could contribute in different ways allowing for a range of skills to show within the piece. Throughout this project I have developed my skills in communication and collaboration as well as developing my confidence in using illustrator.

 

Looking back at my contribution within the group I feel I listened to others' ideas and helped to resolve creative problems however I feel I maybe was not confident enough in my initial ideas and would have liked to have contributed some more first thoughts. I feel as a group we really utilised the resources available around the university gathering material we could up cycle and utilising the workshop and laser cutter which allowed us to either learn new techniques or utilise already developed ones.

 

I was really pleased with our feedback after our group presentation and will reflect on our feedback in my future projects remembering to think about selective and not feeling everything created has to be in the final outcome, thinking more about the process. I will also take with me the skills I have developed in collaboration.

 

Overall, I have really enjoyed this project. I think it has been extremely beneficial and I have progressed a lot throughout and it was really exciting to be given the opportunity to have our pieces on show to the public in Newstead Abbey.

References

-Burton, T. (2010), How the Cheshire Cat Appears in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (digital image), Wikipedia, Available at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland (Accessed 25/11/2022)

-Tenniel, J. (1865), The Cheshire Cat, (digital image), Wikipedia, Available at Cheshire Cat – Wikipedia (Accessed 25/11/2022)

​

bottom of page