Alien in a Box Project

Our huge and beautiful, old ash tree came down in a violent storm and fell on top of our dry toilet. We used some of the branches to make hurdles for the garden but then we found a strange discovery amongst the wreckage and decided to make a memory box as a gift.

Materials - Memory Box and Alien Contents

I used recuperated wood but I did purchase the picture glass, if you buy it from a family-run glazier rather than a large store, then you will get a much better deal.

To make the walls of the case, I used a large fruit crate, the planks of which are 10mm (3/8”) thick and which I get given me from our local organic shop - it is the kind used for shipping and displaying citrus fruit. Normally I use pallet wood for my carpentry work but this time I wanted something that was lighter. For the back of the case I used a standard ubiquitous pine fruit crate wood - this is very light but robust and is usually around 3mm (1/8”) thick. I also recuperated some pine moulding to frame and fix the glass on the front. You will also need panel pins, PVA glue, some small screws and a wall hanger.

For the Alien's clothes, we used some thick brushed cotton to replicate what was described in the 1950's FBI Memo, and added some stitching to give it a quilted appearance (fireproof flying suit) and also a simple insignia/patch was embroidered on the sleeve. We also used the inside of a wine box, which gave a shiny metallic addition to the ensemble, again this was as described in the Roswell memo. We then stuffed the 'flying suit' to make it look like a body and tore parts of the metallic fabric and lightly brushed black water-colour paint over the whole costume, to make it look as if it had been in an accident/fire. Reading through the documentation the Roswell Alien was said to be 3 foot in length so we planned this to be an Alien child in a box but the people we gave it to call it 'Alien Autopsy'!

For the background collage, we made up some suitable phrases using an old American typewriter font and blacked out parts to make it look as if it had been classified. We also searched on-line for the Roswell documentation. We used a computer print facility in the local library which is not terribly good quality but this added to the look we wanted!

The instructions on how to make the box and the background to finding the 'Alien skull' are contained within the film. If you would like a written version then I have one here on my blog, where you will also find many more projects

Alien in a box

Hope you enjoy the film, we had a lot of fun making it.

All the very best,

Organikmechanic aka Andy