Introduction
The Dream or Nightmare subject seems to be a popular reoccurring theme for assignments throughout my artistic career that I have been successfully dodging. I never wanted anybody to know what goes on in my unconscious mind. But this time around, I decided to be honest about the dreams that have troubled me in the past. When it came to making a Shadow box representing a nightmare, I wanted to give the world a window inside my head at a particular time in my life. A troubled time of ghosts and monsters that embodied my inner demons and made me a thriving insomniac. I have since gotten better and have made something positive out of a bad time by turning what once troubled me into a work-in-progress story with characters who were once my enemies. But until such time as I finally get that completely sorted out, here's how I made what started it all, set in a world that I have since called "Otherside".
Creative Process
My idea was so visually complex that, to save both my professor and me an aneurysm, I have broken down the box itself and how I would go about making it into three parts: Backdrop, foreground and frame. This is how I shall also share the process.
Through all of my scribblings, I came up with the idea of an eerie forest setting featuring two reoccurring "characters" in my dreams: a ghostly figure I've since named Vance, and the spiked, vine-like tentacles. I wanted to have the tentacles breaking out of the confines of the box and into our world, to represent how these things affected me in everyday life and just to give an overall horror, threatening feeling. Does the meaning of this box and my dreams need to be pin-pointed? Not necessarily, as this project is a way for me to kind of make sense of it myself.
Breakdown thumbnails and notes.
Backdrop
Materials
- Adobe Photoshop
- Wacom Bamboo Tablet
- Cutting board and X-Acto Knife
- Glue
- Black and brown acrylic paint*
*not pictured
Backdrop Workflow
I started with the backdrop, the furthest part of the box from the opening. I measured the three inner walls of my box and made three separate documents of those measurements.
I made the backdrop in Adobe Photoshop. I started with a simple sketch and then started to colour in the ground, darkest at the front and lighter at the back to give some depth. I gave the two closest trees some details of light hitting the texture of the bark and added layers of fog throughout the image by using a fuzzy brush at a low opacity. I also added a gravel trail that I would then continue of the floor of my box, acting kind of like a play backdrop.
Printed out the three completed images.
The prints were larger than I needed them to be, so I cut them down to the dimensions of the inner walls.
Before gluing in the scenery I painted the box black and the ground brown with acrylics.
Glued them in and scenery is done.
Foreground
Materials
- Adobe Photoshop
- Tree branches
- Dead leaves
- Pebbles
- Aquarium gravel
- Moss and lichen
- Jute
- Polymer Clay
- Paperclay*
- Mitre saw*
- Pruning saw*
- X-Acto knife*
- LEDs*
- Wire*
- Craft foam*
- Zip ties*
*not pictured
Foreground workflow
I started the creation of my forest with lot of different branches from the tree in my backyard.
I measured the height of my box, marked the approximate length on the branch with a pencil and cut it down with a mitre saw.
Tiny trees.
For thinner branches, I used this terrifying looking pruning saw instead so branches wouldn't be flying everywhere at top speed.
Lots of trees to choose from for the forest.
I used a mezzaluna to chop up the moss into short grass pieces.
Spread out a layer of glue.
Laid the moss down (yes, I know it looks like a certain illicit substance).
I continued to cut up grass and put it down. I also spread some glue and sprinkled the aquarium gravel on it for the path. I hot glued the pebbles along the boundaries of the path for a more interesting dividing line between grass and gravel and to give it a more old-fashioned forest trail feeling.
I cut out the window of the box.
My ghostly friend, Vance, was also created in Photoshop. I started out with a simple sketch, outlined it and started to add different tones of grey. I shaded him and added highlights and a halo of light around his eyes. The main source light for drawing this was his eyes.
Cut him out with an X-Acto knife.
I used these LEDs for his eyes because they came with a knob attached to the back to turn them on.
I figured out where his eyes were on the other side.
I cut out a somewhat derpy silhouette of craft foam to later attach to the other side for extra stability.
I used some chalk to colour in where the eyes were and transfered that onto the craft foam piece.
Cut out the eye holes.
Taped together two LEDs.
The light coming through the card stock was too harsh and cast a weird star pattern. To diffuse it, I added a layer of parchment paper and that had a much nicer glow to it.
Glued on the wire armature.
Diffusing parchment paper.
Free-standing ghost.
I wrapped the two LEDs in some wire and twisted it around the figure armature so it'd be able to withstand me twisting them on without breaking off or collapsing.
I used electrical tape to keep light from escaping anywhere but the eye holes.
I figured out where I wanted Vance to stand and punched four holes through the box with an awl on either side of where the two wires at his feet would land.
I fished zip ties through the holes.
Now he's firmly in place.
Tied some nooses out of the jute (tip: clear your internet search history if you plan to make nooses -- if you want to avoid an intervention)
I made the tentacles out of paperclay because it air-dries instead of being required to bake. I used Polymer clay to make the spikes because even though I need to bake it, once it's baked it is strong enough to be sanded down to be sharp. I shoved the spikes into the tentacles while they were still soft and drying. To keep the tentacles from slumping over, I stuck some pins into my chosen tree to hold them up while they dried.
Frame
Materials
- Polymer clay
- Paperclay
- Wire mesh
- Plexiglass*
- Green and white acrylics*
- X-Acto knife*
*not pictured
Frame workflow
I used the wire mesh to make an armature for the large tentacles breaking out of the glass. The theory was that this would make them lighter (but not by much).
I formed the armatures into curves and placed them at the corners of the frame, shaping them so that some of their weight would be supported by the outer walls of the box.
Grasping onto the sides of the box.
As terrible as it was, I realized I'd have to glue in the plexiglass frame first before I sculpted the tentacles as they would render the front inoperable. I begrudgingly had to cut open the back wall of my box in order to have access to the LEDs to switch them on. I may have had a heart attack or two.
I cut the plexiglass down to the size of the front window.
I figured out how much space the tentacles would need to break through the front and cut out rough holes for them. I then started to randomly cut at the edges of the holes in a non-uniform, jagged way. I continued the jagged edges with some lines spreading away from the hole, giving it that bullet hole, spider web look. I kept scoring it with broken glass lines until I was happy with the look.
I glued the broken "glass" on the inner side of the window and sculpted the tentacles with paperclay.
While they were still drying, I stuck in the polymer spikes.
Since it was harder to make this one grab onto the side of the box for support, I had it rest on the table to hold its weight without too much stress.
Painted them and my monster tentacles are complete.
In able to close the box and reopen it to turn Vance's eyes on and off I lined the back wall with a thick silky ribbon and had some extra material cover the top. I attached some sticky-sided Velcro to fasten it closed.
Final Product
Daylight.
In the dark.
Conclusion
Funnily enough, this project was an absolute nightmare to make. Well over a month of my time went into making this thing, and I wanted to throw it out of a moving car on several occasions. But that doesn't mean I'm not proud of it (just not going to look at it for a couple months). Making this really pushed me to work with materials I was familiar with and materials I wasn't familiar with and somehow get them to work together. The amount of focus that went into making this project made me forget that I was working on a subject that I once avoided at every opportunity. These dreams still don't make sense to me, but I know that I'm at least comfortable with sharing it with the world and telling the stories of what went on in my head.
