As part of the promotion for the movie Coraline (which is awesome, especially if you see it in 3D, as I did back in February), the crew put together 50 boxes of Coraline-related stuff that they sent out to
50 different bloggers, who appropriately blogged about them. I'd like to note that none of these blogs were ones I read, and I found out about the promotion from the IMDB messageboards after the fact. Some boxes had concept art, some had bits and pieces of props used in the movie, and some even had the Coraline doll.
After finding out about these boxes, I also found out about a proposed Coraline Box Swap run by
my little mochi, and filled with Coraline-inspired craftiness, I joined in. There were a few rules to follow: two to three handmade items, two black buttons, a red velvet-lined box, etc., but in general we were given free range to do whatever we wanted to, as long as it was Coraline-related. While I only got my box out by the deadline (3/16), the box that was sent to me came just the other day, from
Paolina:
And it is seriously awesome. She used a paper mache box in the shape of a book (I saw those when I was looking for a box myself, but I didn't make the connection to using one) and painted it with the star pattern from Coraline's sweater later in the film.
Although there were 50 of the original boxes, there were only 44 boxes in this swap. (My box is #29, btw.)
The opened box ^_^
Paolina's boyfriend drew this pic of her and him as dolls, with the cat and button key (which is partially obscured by my camera's flash. I tried taking nonflash pictures, but they came out all blurred).
Thread, buttons, and a seeing stone.
One of the requirements was a letter detailing the contents of the box. I love the stationary! Thank you so much, Paolina and boyfriend!
From the moment I heard about the swap, I knew what I wanted to put in it. On the very same day that I saw the movie, I picked up a book called Creepy Cute Crochet
, so I made a Coraline doll in the same style. I also knew I wanted to make a mouse, but since I didn't think I would have time to experiment on a circus outfit (as it was, most of my time was taken up with making and remaking the raincoat, and figuring out the directions for making the hair), I made one of the real Mr. B's mice, even though they never actually make an appearance in the movie (which is why it has safety eyes instead of button eyes). Unfortunately, some of the red velvet residue got on the dolls, but otherwise, they came out rather nicely, I think.
