I see this as storyboarding. I struggle with writing and coming up with descriptions for creating Original Characters, but I see it in my mind, so I find it easier to make something for the character, like a room. I like working in 3D because it's easier to mess about with and change.

What I'm making is a diorama: a model room for a character that I'm designing who's a teenage boy. It's themed around an AI zombie apocalypse, but it's not all blue and sci-fi, it's more grungy and run-down. The boy was training to be an engineer at college. Now the AI he was creating is taking over the boy's body, to try and control him, so his body is becoming more and more electronic, while he is trying to resist.

The room is the teenage boy's bedroom that is slowly becoming more electronic as the AI takes control. You see the withering parts of a child being destroyed. It's a bit like when a child is all happy and nice, and then someone negative starts influencing them for the worst... Except here the bad influence is a robot.

I'm making the room out of cardboard, old wires and different types of junk including old christmas decorations, a pill box, old circuit boards and broken bits of electronics. I like reimagining what different objects could be in a miniature world.

I'm not yet sure how this story will end, but I think the boy and the AI might both go down. I am a firm believer in stories that have unhappy endings. Too many stories have happy endings, which is nice for the viewer, but I like to make my audience feel uncomfortable!

My story has changed a lot along the way, and I've enjoyed being able to adapt my ideas, by trial and error. Normally at home I don't let myself change my idea so many times, whereas at LUL I give myself more permission to experiment. At some point it was going to be a 2000s 'scene' room, then a nostalgic version of my room as a child, then an abandoned place where teens hang out. Then it was going to be a horror house with a spooky back story, and then it became this, after I came up with the character idea at home.

This project has been partly inspired by a trip we went on with LUL ages ago to an artist's studio who makes horror props and models, that he mostly made from old junk. Crafts don't have to be expensive - all I've used is old broken junk, a cardboard box and hot glue!

Doing this project I've learned more about my creative process. My mind is constantly running, and most of my ideas came just from listening to all the creative thoughts that flow through my head all the time and acting on them straight away.

I've also learned that I can stay focused on a project over a long period of time, where normally I wouldn't have the patience. I think the routine has helped.

Mentor Susannah says "I was impressed with how changing her idea didn't stop E in her process. Having lots of ideas in lots of different directions hasn't slowed E down: the same box just kept changing and evolving along with her imagination"

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Leadership, Practical

We made and researched a poster about the musician Ethel Cain and her music and influences. We used collage to convey the information. We learned about how Ethel Cain's music developed over the years.

Skills learned: Artistic, Research, Practical, Teamwork

DIY volcano explosion. I learned about what things to mix to make the volcano erupt. We also used a green screen phone up to film the video.

Skills learned: Artistic

I decided to learn more about woodland animals and i like making posters so i wrote facts about foxes and snakes for example. I learned to make a poster and I developed my art skills, organising pictures and text into an amazing piece of art work.

Skills learned: Research, Artistic, Communication

We researched clay stuff we could make and we picked a trinket dish shaped like the moon and a little toad stool and we painted on them. I learned artistic skills like sticking the pieces of clay together and how to make something from my imagination.

Skills learned: Artistic, Research, Practical and Teamwork

I made Top Trumps cards about deep sea animals. First I searched up the animals and I came up with the categories such as weirdness, cuteness, weight and strength. I discovered sea slugs and I think they are really cute. I have learned how to use copying and pasting and masking pictures and searching up stuff. I think I am getting better at using computers in this topic.

Skills learned: Research, Communication, Confidence and Practical

I designed a floor plan of a nursery because i'm interested in working in childcare. We looked at different types of skills you would need to work with children. I made up the basic floor plan then used the internet to help me find out different activities you could do in a nursery. Including: a magnetic blackboard for learning numbers and letters. A hall to play games that would help children build teamwork and communication. I especially liked my idea of the chicken coop, it would help the children understand the nature of life. I learned critical thinking, and problem solving.

Skills learned: Artistic, Practical and Research

We followed instruction from a book called, Flowersmith by Jennifer Tran. We used crepe paper, glue, turmeric powder and wire to make realistic looking flowers. The flowers will be useful for my Nat 5 design project as I'm making a mask inspired the film, Midsommar and flowers are one of my main shapes in my design. I developed my ability to follow quite complex instructions. I also developed my creativity and problem solving skills by adapting the instructions to fit the slightly different materials we had.

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Leadership and Practical

We started out by using marbling inks to make patterns on paper, trying out different colours and swirling styles. Then we decided we wanted to decorate some tote bags we had left over from another textile project. We researched different techniques for marbling with fabric paints and picked one using shaving foam. We created a few bags using tape to section off areas and contrast colours. It's been a fun project because I got to learn a new technique but also push it and experiment with it in my own way.

Skills learned: Artistic, Confidence, Practical and Research

We took a little trip to Surgeons Hall and looked at all the different exhibitions. In one exhibition we got to handle surgery tools from the 1800's such as a blood letting bowl and an old bottle of chloroform. In another exhibition we got to learn about the infamous Burke and Hare and the history of anesthetic. Afterwards, we made a power point displaying all information we learnt.

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Teamwork, Practical and Research

We made necklaces using sea glass and sea themed charms. During a trip to Deep Sea World we saw some sea themed jewellery in the gift shop, which gave us the idea to make some jewellery ourselves. We found out about sea glass and decided to use some collected from a beach to create necklaces.

Skills learned: Artistic and Practical

I used a story generator to come up with a basic plot and characters for my story, changing the bits that didn't work. I then started planning the characters and plot in more detail and then even made the physical post-it note that causes the characters in the romance to get together!

I then designed a book cover using Canva and came up with the colours and images that fitted my story, and also created my pen name, Violet Valentine.

I've learned to write creatively and make my ideas into a compelling story. I've learned about how to communicate my ideas to my mentor and feel more confident about it. I've learned how to work better in a team, working together with my mentor. I also learned how to use Canva to make my book cover.

I'm continuing to write my story and I'm enjoying it!

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Practical and Teamwork

We made a mind-map and used internet research to get facts about Lewis Miller and his football career. I learned how to collect facts and put them together in a mindmap and I learned more about a topic I was interested in.

Skills learned: Research, Teamwork, Practical.

We looked at light sabers in the Art of Star Wars book. We found suitable parts including a plumping piece for the main body. A torch for the slight that we mounted into the body. We spray painted the body silver. We tried red acetate over the torch but then used it to make the tube instead. Through experimenting you wrapped the beam with cling film to create a better effect.

The mentee who did this excellent project said, “Experimenting is a good way of learning, if scientists can learn through experimenting, why can’t I?”

Skills learned: Practical, Teamwork and Research

A group of Mentors and Mentees recently went on a trip to Realm VR where they were introduced to the pods and given a rundown of how the headsets and hand controls work. There was a huge variety of games to try once everyone had adjusted and calibrated the equipment. It was amazing to learn that The Realm VR is currently the only one of its kind at the moment, that it took a year to establish, and that they constructed their own powerful PCs to use with the VR equipment. It was very enjoyable for the Mentees who all had a keen interest in engineering or technology. As well as having some practical experience with the gear, they learned about The Realm VR as a business.

Skills learned: Practical, Teamwork, Confidence, Communication, Research

I designed an Arctic Monkeys using a graphics apps Ibispaint X., I designed the album cover, the record itself and I made up the titles of the songs that were featured on the album. I strengthened my graphic design skills.

Skills learned: Practical, Artistic, Communication

We got a tie-dye kit and decided on what design and colours we wanted. When we got the tie-dye kit we found a clear classroom that the teacher let us use. We then tied a tote bag up with rubber bands and applied the dye. We had to rinse the tote and then left it to sit for 24 hours. I rinsed it a couple more times at home and the bag was finished. I'm now using it as my new school bag from now on. I learned confidence in learning a new topic

Skills learned; Artistic, Confidence, Practical, Communication, Teamwork

We made a Taylor Swift Greatest Hits CD, designed the album cover, made a poster and put together a songbook featuring favourite lyrics from each track on the album. I learned about ways to listen to music other than Spotify and how to burn a CD.

Skills learned; Practical

I created characters of two completely different species out of air drying clay and painted them. One is called Pizza Cat, they are from Italy and are an omnivore. Bluey is Polish but they were born in Slovakia. One day they decided to go to Spain and on the same day Pizza cat was also on the boat to Spain. They became good friends through their shared ideology and diet. I learned that I have a good eye for matching, mixing and choosing colours and going with the flow (pizza cat was originally just a cat!)

Skills learned; Confidence, Artistic and Practical

Some of our students who are interested in cooking had a taster of what it would be like to study this at college with a trip to the cooking department at Edinburgh College. One of the students who took part reflected on what they learned:

Firstly, one of the College Instructors was teaching us how to chop vegetables correctly and professionally as we were going to make salsa. The ingredients we used for the salsa were Onions, Red/Green pepper 1/2, Garlic, Coriander, 1/2 of lemon squeeze, 2 full plum tomatoes and a bit salt and pepper. After that we made a pizza dough consisting of 90 grams of flour, A pinch of baking powder and salt and lastly 70 grams of natural yoghurt. We kneaded the dough until it was ready to roll out. When it was ready we rolled it out and got ready to add out toppings. On my pizza i just had pepperoni but there was many other toppings you could've had to put on. After we put the toppings on we put them in the oven for 15 mins. Once the pizzas were ready we quickly ate them before leaving.

I learned how to chop vegetables into thin strips the correct way and also the way I position my hands while chopping. Also I learned how to dice onions correctly too. Simultaneously I got an understanding of what it would be like to work in a kitchen for example how important communication and listening are, and what I would need to take in to improve my skills.

Skills learned; Research, Teamwork, Communication, Practical

This is a poster showing all the Spider man villains. I designed the poster and we researched on what their backgrounds were. We also chose which ones we felt empathy for and which ones we didn't as much. We learned about what villains were in what movies and how they became villains. We also talked about how much we empathize for each villains and why.

Skills learned: Artistic, Research, Practical and Communication

We learnt about the five layers of the ocean and what animals live in each zone. We learnt this using videos and then made an ocean jar. This involved creating the five sea layers in a jar using different liquids such as oil, fairy liquid, treacle and food colouring. Now we have began making a collage of the ocean. We used images of animals from Pinterest and materials such as tissue paper, bin bags and other scrap material. We then googled different animals and wrote facts down to add to our collage. We have been watching some episodes of Blue Planet to get these facts. We are planning a trip to Deep Sea World now.

Skills Learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Practical, Research and Teamwork

This project was to help me complete my higher photography portfolio, and me and my mentor went on a trip to the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh to capture different types of nature (mainly on flowers) using a standard canon camera as well as a macro camera. This was the first time I used the macro camera so I learnt how to set the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. I also learnt how to control my emotions when entering the new environment of the Botanical Gardens and keeping myself contained when walking around Edinburgh as I've only been with my parents so this was a new experience for me.

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Leadership, Practical, Research and Teamwork

We started by writing down what we felt about different paintings. We looked at famous paintings and looked quite a lot at Salvador Dali. I liked his style because it was quite 'trippy' and had an underlying meaning. We created poems (a topic I had previously looked into with LUL) based on some of his works including 'The Burning Giraffe'. We then headed up to the art department where we researched acrylic techniques on Youtube and made up our own techniques tester sheet. We used an artificial intelligence art website that randomly generates a piece of art based on words you enter. We generated a piece that was inspired by Dali's mesmerising style and we are now painting using the acrylic techniques we tested out. I have enjoyed this learning topic because it is therapeutic and I like painting. I like how its more relaxed than class and I am not having to worry about getting something wrong, because if I do I can just paint over it.

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Leadership, Practical Skills, Teamwork, Research

The unsolved case files crime kit is evidence (photos, witness statements, transcripts from police investigations, newspaper articles, coroner’s report etc) of the unsolved case and you have to solve the case. After one clue is solved you can move onto the next clue, using the online website connected to the crime kit.

“I’ve learned to not make accusations too soon otherwise you’ll completely mess up the case. It means you have to analyse everything bit by bit so you get the right outcome in the end. I also learned that teamwork’s important because if you had to do it on your own it might take a lot longer than needed. I enjoyed getting to the end of the project and successfully figuring out the murderer.“

Skills learned: Communication, Confidence, Practical, Research, Teamwork

“This project involved creating illustrated information cards on original characters that I have created myself. Through doing this project I learnt how to put information into a smaller and easier to read format, using eye-catching colours. The next stage will be to translate them into a digital format.”

Skills learned: Artistic skills

Using a hand lettering course from Domestika, I've been learning how to draw letters in creative ways using just a pen, not even a pencil line first. I’ve learnt how to work quickly, confidently and not see mistakes as a bad thing. It's all part of the process.

Skills learned: Artistic, Communication, Confidence, Practical

I have a interest in fashion and actually researched one aspect of clothing which was recycled clothing and then I thought I would have a look at the more hands on aspect. We used kits which had bottles filled with dye power. We added water and made our own designs creatively by using instructions as well as my creative skills by using rubber bands to make different designs and then went freestyle and created my own design using my own techniques. I was very pleased and surprised of how creative I was with my designs which made it very exiting to see how it would come out. I am interested in costume design which is something I’m doing in drama and is something I might like to do in the future as a job so I liked seeing the different aspect of creating and designing clothing.

Skills Learned: Artistic, Research, Communication, Practical, Confidence, Teamwork

“My project involves all the characters from Seasons 1 to 3 of the TV programme Stranger Things. It explains everything you need to know about the different- relationships between characters, good and bad. We've used a colour scheme to show the different relationships between the characters. There's also a description of the main monster/baddies throughout the show.”

Skills Learned: Artistic, Research, Communication, Practical, Confidence

"We wanted to make a toy car, that would be able to move, out of recycled materials. First of all, we selected a YouTube tutorial to watch, and then accumulated the materials shown in the video. Over time we collected the required items. These included: 4 plastic bottle lids, paper straws, wooden ice lolly sticks, skewers, 2 old batteries, an elastic band, and we borrowed a glue gun from the art department. On our first attempt we used UHU adhesive glue, but this was too messy, took too long to dry and it wasn't actually sticky enough! This was why we then tried the glue gun on our second attempt which was much more successful.

We followed these instructions thoroughly to build the car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLu2Eols0BI&t=3s

Once we had built the car we tested out it's functionality. Unfortunately, the elastic band snapped a couple of times, and we needed some minor repairs to be done on the car. But in the end we were successful and had fun building it.

Overall, this project tested my patience, challenged our problem solving skills and made us happy that we managed to build it and have fun! "

Skills Learned: Artistic, Communication, Practical, Research and Teamwork skills

Caitlin began with a broad interest in psychology and our discussions mainly focused on the Nature vs Nurture debate. After looking into some of the main theories such as Behaviourism and Psychoanalysis, we started looking into different attachment styles. Caitlin and I both had a mutual love of the TV programme Friends, so when we were discussing what the different attachment styles might look like, we started referring to the different characters and scenes. This gave us the idea to do a psychological analysis of each of the characters using what we had learned. Once we had gathered our evidence she began writing an essay, using the Point, Evidence, Explain and Link structure. Her finished essay can be read by clicking the image above. Next year we have planned to conduct a psychological experiment and look more into Child Psychology.

Skills Learned: Communication, Confidence, Research, Debating and Leadership

“We watched Black Swan, and while we watched I took notes on different things. At the beginning we started looking at the whole movie, as we got further through we focused more on the acting performance. Once we finished it we made a mind map and we wrote down all of our notes and then wrote a conclusion of what my review was of her acting. I learned how to analyse someone's acting and I had never done this before I had only analysed a full movie before. I learnt some of the techniques actors use. I had never considered before what an actor does in detail. I also learnt a little bit about Swan lake.”

Skills Learned: Confidence, Debate, Communication, Research

“When I started learning about fishing I found out there were different knots for attaching different hooks. This got me interested in knots in general, which are helpful for the outdoors - for hammocks, shelters or holding things together. The bowline is my favourite knot, because in my opinion it's the easiest knot I've learned so far, and it was one of the first ones I learned. I enjoy learning how to tie different knots because it's a fun, practical activity (and my mentor says I learn them really quickly - it gets her all confused!!). I have also learned the Clove Hitch, Figure 8, Noose, Sheet Bend, Albright, and a few more. I am aiming to learn more fishing knots that I can use in the summer! Determination and motivation is key! Last week I got stuck trying to do a clove hitch on a slidey table leg (evil!). I told my mentor that I'd lost motivation, so we watched the instructions again, took it slow, and tried it around a chair leg instead. I felt happy when I managed in the end, because for once my motivation came back!”

Skills Learned: Communication, Confidence, Practical, Teamwork

“I learned how to make the book, by paper folding. Then we talked about what we could make the zine about, and I decided to start by making a Harry Potter zine. I did the research and printed off the facts and the pictures, and then I planned it out and glued it all together. I really enjoyed making it and putting it all together, so I wanted to have a go on my own, and made the zines about flowers and animals. Next I'm going to make a zine about me!”

Skills Learned: Artistic, Research

One of our mentees has been researching two topics this term and was keen to share them both:

Police: This mentee is keen to join the police after leaving school (he is going to attend Edinburgh College to study criminology) and we arranged a visit to Leith Police station for a tour. Some of the police staff spoke to us about life in the police and gave advice about getting some work experience before applying. We also managed to set up a meeting with another officer who deals with volunteering and the mentee is currently working on his application form to carry out volunteer work with the police. As the mentee says: “It was good for my confidence to meet lots of police staff, who were all very friendly.”

Basketball: This mentee is also a keen basketball player and his favourite team is Houston Rockets, so we have been studying the history of the team. We spent particular time and emphasis on 2007/2008 season, which was one of the most famous team's in Houston's history: “The current Rockets are having a terrible season, so it was interesting to compare and contrast their successes and failures. I learned about communicating with other people and for dealing with organisations outside of school. For the basketball, I liked researching my team's history and it got me really interested in playing basketball again as games against other schools have started up again.”

Skills Learned: Communication, Confidence, Debate, Research, Teamwork

“We went to the five sister's zoo to find out more about the different careers involved in zoos and information about the animals they have there. I learned who does what at the zoo and the qualifications they had to get, why certain animals need certain enclosures, what they would do if different animals escaped and facts about animals. We found out the information by getting an educational tour around the zoo by Adam (the head of education). He showed us every enclosure and talked about all the animals in detail, and he also spoke about breeding programs. My favourite thing about my visit was getting to see the fossa, an animal I have never seen or heard of before, because it was very interesting to look at and I was surprised to hear it is the largest mammal in Madagascar and is very dangerous which means in zoos it must be kept alone. I would like to learn more about being a zoo vet because I feel it would be something that would suit me. I would rate the trip a 10/10.”

Skills Learned: Communication, Research