People loved my first Mysterious Box, so the logical thing to do was make another one! I decided to make one a year, as a limited edition.
The second box was based on a legend/story local to me. I spent many, many happy hours researching the story and designing clues that worked. (If you want to fall down the same rabbit hole, it is about the existence - or non existence - of a chalk figure on Wandlebury Fort.)
I had to work out what people liked about them. A friend who enjoyed the first box said it was partly about texture. She loved that the clues were objects you could hold in your hand, not just printed on a piece of paper. So that is what I focussed my mind on. How could I make my clues into real things?
I had the playing cards made by a playing card company so that they had exactly the right size and feel. The tiny OS map had a shiny cover but plain paper inside, and it folded correctly and had two sides just like a real OS map. There was an original linocut on thin paper and an original dry point etching in heavyweight paper. I discovered the existence of a treasury of cheap charms for sale on eBay - there always seems to be one that fits my theme which I can hand paint. I made a little hand stitched pamphlet book of historical quotes about Wandlebury, lending support one way or another. I used MDF wargaming figure bases to create a dolls house sized replica of a relevant book. There was a letter in a tiny envelope - and a twig!
The importance of the clues as physical objects has been a cornerstone of my puzzle boxes ever since.
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