Final Beechcroft Workshop - Pulling everything together

This forth and final lesson was the pulling together of all components to make one full costume for each student. It was a relaxed session (that was a first!) where the children added trimmings to the Tshirts neckline and then one by one worked with me to use a Hot Glue gun to put their tentacles onto the collars they had made. With the collars being the most unsuccessful part in my opinion I was slightly worried about how they were going to look with the tentacles attached, but they actually look really good and the tentacles seem to cover the parts that were not done very well. I also attached the elastic loops on either side of the collar so that the cotton tape could be threaded through in order for them to be stable on the neck and shoulders. This seemed to be the best way of putting the collar on the children and the comfiest that I tried where it loops under the armpits and ties around the back, this allows them to have freedom with their arms and upper body, and after trying all different ways and getting tutor advice this was the best and most successful way to be worn.

^^ Examples of the variety of different collars on each student and how they have customized them differently to make them their own...

The final lesson was brilliant and being able to see the enthusiasm and excitement from the children was great. At the end of the session they all wanted to parade around the playground in their outfits. The next stage for them is for a choreographer to come into the school and teach them a dance related to the 'sea monster' idea. This would be the routine that they will perform in the parade. The Moving Tides project that I set them seems to of been very beneficial in terms of creativity. It allowed them to learn more techniques and processes that they have never tried before and actually enticed a lot more students interest in the project than you would of thought it initially would. I think they were all satisfied with what they had achieved because with it being a live project they know how important the costumes are and tried their best so knowing all this hard work goes towards something makes a project a lot more exciting for both them and me!