Dapper Diminutive Dwellings
Has anyone else noticed an upward trend in diminutive cardboard dwellings, or is it just me?
cardboard
Make an appliance box fort
It’s no secret to kids that a big cardboard box is the best play fort you can have. Find a washing machine box on the curb, drag it home: instant fun. If you want some amenities, such as a drawbridge door or firing slits, you need to put a little extra work into it.
I’ve embellished ours in the past with everything from a Swiss Army knife to a box cutter. Turns out, a Dremel Multi-Max is a much easier, more controllable tool for this than anything I’ve tried. Add some good fasteners and there’s no limit to the size and complexity of the cardboard castles you can
construct.
Giant cardboard robot suit
Jason Lentz shows off his impressive cardboard exoskeleton at Maker Faire. To hear Jason tell it, the arms were the only tricky part to make. There’s more info at the project’s Facebook group and in Jason’s Flickr collection.
Never mind the table, check out the fake cardboard boulders
A glass-top table supported by a group of what appear to boulders may be to your taste. If so, that’s cool. This one from Brazilian designer Domingos Tótora is called the Agua Table. But even if not, I thought the process of making the “rocks” from a paste of old cardboard boxes and glue was pretty interesting. I speculate that Sr. Totora actually started out by experimenting with the cardboard-paste process, figured out he could make fake boulders using it, then cast about for awhile trying to find a use for the cool fake boulders he’d just taught himself to make. Slapping a piece of tempered glass on it and calling it a coffee table has worked for a lot of other designers… [Thanks, Billy Baque!]
Record player built into a record jacket
Ad agency GGRP recently built this cardboard record player.
Flatpack cardboard high chair
I just can’t get enough flatpack. The Belkiz Feedaway is a cardboard portable feeding chair that can be used for temporary situations or where space is at a premium. It is cardboard, easy to assemble for toddlers up to 20 months of age up to 20kg who are away from home. Ideal for temporary and […]
Cardboard chair process video
This process animation makes it look easy. There should be a zillion different variations on the design of a chair like this. It looks like a good way to work with the concepts of compression, tension, torsion and shear with students as they design and build their own furniture. Have you used cardboard furniture design/build projects in a classroom setting? Let us know in the comments!
