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Archive for the ‘Papier-mâché’ Category

Steampunk deer ears

16 May

Adding the defining elements to the steampunk deer is where the fun begins! Since the deer will have a steampunk cyborg aesthetic, part of it will be “natural” and part will be mechanical. I’ll start with the natural ear. I looked at my reference material and sculpted the base shape with corrugated cardboard.

Cardboard ear cut out

Cardboard ear cut out

As you can see, I had to cut the cardboard so that when folded and taped, it has a curve and dimension to it, as you can see below.

Taped together

Taped together

I then covered the whole thing with tape to seal and waterproof it before applying papier-mâché.

Covered with tape to waterproof

Covered with tape to waterproof

And now, I close the bottom and fit it with a wooden knob, drilled to accept a screw. This will allow it to be attached to the side of the deer head sculpture.

Taped to shape

Taped to shape

Added wooden knob

Added wooden knob

And now…covered in mache…

Covered in mache

Covered in mache

And now, the attachment to the deer head sculpture…

Ear attached to deer head

Ear attached to deer head

Next, I’ll show how I pulled together random repurposed, recycled pieces and parts to assemble the cyborg ear for the steampunk deer head sculpture. It’s really fun to reuse those things that otherwise get thrown in the trash!

Thank you for your continued interest in my work and stay tuned for my next post!

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Paper Sculpture, Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Repurposed and Upcycled, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Adding nostrils and mouth

29 Apr

As I add the papier-mâché to the outside of the steampunk deer head, I need to detail the nostrils and mouth on the steampunk deer head. As I said before, using masking tape to shape something in is fast and stable, then going over that with papier-mâché strengthens it. I use folded newspaper to get a shape, then tape it to the sculpture. I know newspapers are on the decline. I don’t know what I’m going to do for raw materials for amazing art when the newspapers go away. Recycling and repurposing them has been great for my art!

Forming mouth & nostrils

Forming mouth & nostrils

Now the taped mouth and nostrils.

Taped nostrils

Taped nostrils

Taped nostrils

Taped nostrils

Then we start to add the mâché over the top…

Mâché over the mouth and nostrils

Mâché over the mouth and nostrils

Mâché over nostrils

Mâché over nostrils

Next time, I’ll start building onto the deer head. Ears, steampunk accessories, etc.

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Paper Sculpture, Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Repurposed and Upcycled, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

More facial detail

18 Apr

Now that I’ve fleshed out the “real” antler, I need to add the rest of the flesh thickness to the deer head before I apply the papier-mâché.

Fleshing out the face

Fleshing out the face

The nose still hasn’t been defined yet, but that is a surface detail I’ll add later. I just wanted to get the thickness added and then I go over it with masking tape. I do this for a couple reasons. First, it secures everything in place instantly. Second, it sort of water/moisture proofs the paper below for when I add mâché over the top in the next step. I used to feel guilty about using masking tape. I guess I felt some sort of need to be a purist and masking tape seemed like cheating. Well, I got over that once I realized the benefits of using it and it also dawned on me that masking tape IS paper, only it already has adhesive on it…DUH!

As I added tape to cover the form, I continued to add detail to the antler…

Taping the antler

Taping the antler

As I add tape to the face and neck, it’s also time to put definition around the eye in the form of eyelids.

 

Masking tape eyelids

Masking tape eyelids

Eyelid close-up

Eyelid close-up

Now we begin to add the papier-mâché over the masking tape, including the antler.

Beginning the mâché process

Beginning the mâché process

As you can see, the left side of the steampunk deer head sculpture does not have an eye. This is because this will be the side that has the steampunk cyborg “appliance” for an eye. It will also have a cyborg ear and other hardware.

Another thing you will notice from the picture above is the white tub with the paint brush on top. This container has a 50-50 blend of water and white PVA glue. Again, I’m not a purist…or at least I try not to be. Art is about improvisation and innovation as much as anything else. I’ve always found the typical flour/water or wallpaper paste recipes for papier-mâché “glue” to be messy, lumpy, cumbersome and slow to dry. Instead, I use the glue mixture, brush it on, lay down a newspaper strip and brush on more glue to smooth things out. It’s fast, less messy and it dries a lot faster than flour paste. It costs a little more, but it’s way WORTH IT!!

Papier-mâché around the eye

Papier-mâché around the eye

Next time, I’ll show how I added the details of the nostrils and mouth. Hope you stay tuned for that…and while you’re at it, please share this blog with your friends, on Pinterest and like my Facebook page!

 
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Posted in Paper Sculpture, Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Repurposed and Upcycled, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Facial detail on steampunk deer head

11 Apr

Starting to add facial details like building up the shape for eyes and nose is what I’ll talk about now. Before I added paper to “flesh out” the neck of the deer, I had put some recycled wood cross pieces in the head to widen the base. Part of the reason for this was to provide an anchor place for the eye(s). Now that I’m adding eyes, the base puts them in approximately the right place.

Cross piece for eye mounting

Cross piece for eye mounting

I had to cut a bit off the top to get the angle right, then I drilled a hole in the cross piece for a wooden dowel, glued that in, then did the same on a wooden half-sphere I had lying around. When I say “lying around”, I mean it. My wife kinda gets ticked off because I have so much “stuff” I collect for parts. The sphere piece was in a bag of random wooden shapes I bought quite awhile ago, on sale at a craft store for a couple bucks. You never know when stuff is going to come in handy! I base coated the sphere black and glued it in place.

Base coated "hemisphere" in place

Base coated “hemisphere” in place

Later, I can build the structure around the “eye” that will be the brow and cheek of the deer on this side. Right now, I want to add thickness and substance to the “real” antler. Once I do that, I’ll be able to finish smoothing out the “skin” on the rest of the head and neck.

Adding substance to the "real" antler

Adding substance to the “real” antler

More substance...

More substance…

And more substance...

And more substance…

Wrapping it up

Wrapping it up

Now, I just wrapped the antler with more masking tape to secure the paper and smooth it out a bit. I need to add shape and definition to the face and nose too, but I’ll save that for next time…

Keep your eyes peeled!

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Repurposed and Upcycled, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Adding “flesh” to the steampunk deer head

05 Apr

Now that provisions for the antlers are in place, I can start to “flesh out” the deer head. I began by filling the void areas in the wooden armature with wads of newspaper, then going over that with rolled newspaper, which I fl;attened out a bit and trimmed to fit. I taped those pieces in place with masking tape and kept building on that until the desired shape was reached, reffering often to several different photos I’d printed from the net.

Adding "flesh" to the deer head

Adding “flesh” to the deer head

More layering….

A more smoothed out look

A more smoothed out look

Once I had the basic shape I wanted, I decided to spray the “copper” antler so I didn’t have to be careful with where the paint went. I knew I’d be covering the newspaper later.

Copper sprayed antler

Copper sprayed antler

The “real” antler will wait until I start adding the actual mâché to the deer head. But for next time, I’ll add detail to the face and that will include providing a base for the eyes, both “real” and cyborg…

Don’t miss it!

 

 

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Repurposed and Upcycled, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Steampunk deer antlers

01 Apr

Now I’ll show how I constructed the antlers for the steampunk deer head. I originally wanted to make one antler look natural, while the other look like a steampunk cyborg replacement of copper pipe. The problem is, the price of copper is so high right now, that it would have cost $50 just in that small amount for the antler. I decided that I could do a good job of making PVC look like copper with only a fraction of the cost. With some research, I arrived at a design for my antlers and got to work.

The natural side would be made of papier-mâché, but would need an armature. Looking around my junk pile, I found an old rusty drill bit extender that I bent into the right shape and glued it into a drilled out hole in the deer head armature.

Bent drill bit extender as armature

Bent drill bit extender as armature

From here, I added another piece of metal rod I found, then bent into shape, and used the tightening nut on the drill bit extender to affix it.

More length added and bent into shape

More length added and bent into shape

Then, I found an old leaf rake head and removed a couple metal tines and bent them around the rods and Gorilla glued them in place as the armature for spikehorns on the antler. Great way to upcycle and repurpose some old junk!

Rake tines as spikehorns

Rake tines as spikehorns

For the pipe side, I began by drilling a hole in the wooden armature that was large enough to accomodate a threaded PVC coupler and glued and screwed in in place.

PVC coupler as anchor for pipe antler

Now the rest of the antler can be cut, shaped and glued into place.

The whole rack, ready for detailing

The whole rack, ready for detailing

Next time, I’ll show how I began adding the thickness of the flesh to the deer head and how I made provisions for the eyes. Stay tuned!

 

 
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Steampunk Whitetail Deer Mount

22 Mar

If you’ve had any opportunity to attend a steampunk convention or gathering, you’ve undoubtedly seen at least a few ‘punks in their turn-of-the-century safari outfit, complete with modded weapon and pith helmet. Well, I live in Michigan, so the hunters here wear hunter orange and shoot slightly less exotic prey than lions and elephants. Here, they hunt wild turkeys, ducks, various other critters and… whitetail deer.

Some folks don’t like hunting, others don’t mind the idea but don’t have the time or experience. Whatever your position on wildlife conservation or protein food source, the image of a mounted animal head is iconic. But what if you like the look, but can’t get a mount or don’t hunt? And further, what if you’re a steampunk fan and the idea of applying that aesthetic to wildlife appeals to you?

Well, I have your answer. Steampunk Whitetail Deer!

I got the idea while talking to a lady who owns a store that sells products made in Michigan. I had showed her some things that I had done, but she thought I should do something that would appeal to someone from here. A deer came to mind as a piece of amazing paper mache art, then the idea of creating a steampunk cyborg deer popped into my head, and I was off and running…

I started by researching size and shape, since I had not actual mount to look at and measure. Based on my findings, I did a full sized sketch.

Original sketch to scale

Original sketch to scale

I knew I’d have to do a mount plaque and I’d also need a piece of sheeting for the “base” of the animal itself that would be a cross section shape of its neck. I also needed to create a way to temporarily mount that base to a stand to work from. Below is the shape and mechanism I came up with.

Base design

Base design

From here, I started cutting pieces of scrap pallet wood to rough out the shape of the neck and head of the deer. I love to use repurposed and recycled materials for my work as you know! I made sure to add a little action to the pose by putting a curve in the neck.

The assembly of the armature

The assembly of the armature

Next time, I’ll start to add dimension to the armature and figure out the antlers. Don’t go away!

 

 

 
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The airship propeller

31 Jan

Last time I finished putting the propeller support scaffolding on the steampunk airship that is to be part of my diarama. Now I’ll start the propeller itself.

I can’t emphasize enough that you don’t need to buy much in order to create amazing art. Just look around you…I save plastic jar lids, pen barrels, scrap paper and fiberboard, plastic closures, fixtures, hangars, fasteners…everything. I’m a hoarder only in the sense that what I save looks like junk, but it all has artistic value when you realize it can be repurposed, reused, recycled and otherwise transformed into cool things of beauty!

To start the propeller, I found a piece of medical equipment my brother gave me. It’s an inline tube filter (new of course) that’s used in a suction device for surgery, but it looks very “hub-like”. I simple glued flat toothpicks at regular intervals around the perimeter of the “hub” and let them dry.

Propeller hub

Propeller hub

Flip side

Flip side

Once dry, I spray painted the piece an antiqued copper color and then gave it a patina of green “rust”. For the propeller blades, I cut triangles of a white scrap printing paper I had, gently curled one point for pitch and glued the edge to the toothpicks. I used some plastic pieces to stilt the blades while the glue dried.

Blades added

Blades added

Here’s the finished propeller…

Finished propeller

Finished propeller

And now we slide the propeller onto the end of the airship. I used a skinny plastic straw as the shaft and I split it and frayed the end so that by holding it together, I was able to slide the propeller onto it, and once the frayed end was inside the hub, it spread out enough to lightly hold the propeller on without glue. This way, I can manually spin it!

Propeller in place and spinnable!

Propeller in place and spinnable!

Next post, I’ll build the stabilizer fins, so stay tuned… :)

 

 

 

 
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Airship nose and propeller shaft

24 Jan

I need to put a nose and tail cone on the diarama airship, so I used the same technique I use for my airship kits, which is to sart with a cut circle of card stock (I use old file folders). I then punch a hole in the center with a standard paper punch and with scissors, I cut about a quarter of the circle away. This then gets formed into a funnel shape, then glued with white glue. To make the nose spire, I used a painted wooden golf tee and pushed that through the nose cone, then attached it. The tail cone was made in the same way, but required a different structure beyond that because the tail also holds the scaffolding for the propeller.

Nose and tail cones in place

Nose and tail cones in place

Next, I constructed the scaffolding for the propeller by cutting strips of cereal box cardboard, then gluing them into the appropriate shape. (Can you tell that I never throw away anything that might have an artistic use?!). When dry, they were sprayed with copper paint and antiqued with green acrylic paint, (seen in next photo).

Propeller scaffolding

Propeller scaffolding

A piece of repurposed plastic tube that used to be the guts of a click-type ball point pen serves as the propeller shaft when painted and attached to the tail cone of the airship. The scaffolding is then attached to the shaft and the sides of the airship body. White glue works fine for most pieces.

Scaffolding attached to the airship

Scaffolding attached to the airship

Next time, I’ll show how to build a cool propeller for the zeppelin out of simple repurposed objects. Reusing and recycling can be easy and fun. Try some of these techniques to start a project with your kids. It’s a great way to find common ground with a teenager!

 

 

 
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The finished piece!

22 Dec

Building the soft support in the Calvin & Hobbes themed ukulele case…

Awhile back, I posted the construction of the internal support framework for the ukulele itself. This consisted of cutting a shape that followed the contour of the uke, then building a scaffolding that held it up off the bottom of the case. Now I install that scaffolding, but it first has to be covered in a soft material. The scaffolding pieces are first laid out and the ukulele is set in to see if any trimming needs to be done to accommodate the fabric.

Uke in place within scaffolding

I then need to start positioning the fabric over the scaffolding pieces and trimming it to fit.

Positioning fabric for fit and trimming

I planned to tuck and glue the fabric edges to the sides of the case once I had it trimmed properly. It was really kind of a trial and error thing as I trimmed the fabric, then once I had it the way I wanted it, I glued the fabric to the scaffolding using plain white glue and let it dry. I then put glue on the bottom of the scaffolding and inserted it into the case to dry.

Scaffolding glued into case

Now the edges of the fabric needed to be tucked in and glued to the sides of the case to finish the job.

Tucked and glued fabric

For the lid, I did pretty much the same thing, except the intent is to gently press against the top of the ukulele so it doesn’t flop around in the case. I basically cut the case shape, glued two strips that would land on either side of the bridge and strings, then covered it with the fabric and glued it into the lid.

Lid liner covered with fabric

To finish the Calvin & Hobbes themed, handmade papier-mâché ukulele case, I inserted and glued the lid liner in place.

Liner glued in

When the ukulele is placed in the case and the lid is closed, the lid liner securely holds the uke in place. The finished piece looks thusly…

Uke in the finished case

I hope you found this post series entertaining and informative. I’d love to see what you come up with after seeing this case go together. Remember, you don’t have to buy something if you can build it yourself, especially if you have materials lying around that would get tossed otherwise. You’re more resourceful and talented than you may think…just think…

Watch for my next posts. Another project to watch the construction of. Thanks for reading…tell your friends to subscribe!

 
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Let’s get a handle on things!

24 Nov

Before the Thanksgiving Holiday, I showed you the clasp on the Calvin & Hobbes snowman themed ukulele case I’m building. Now, I want to show you the handle I concocted. A ukulele isn’t very heavy, and even with the weight of the recycled cardboard and paper case, the total weight isn’t more than a few pounds. The handle needed to be strong enough to manage the weight of the uke and case, plus any torque and stress from carrying it.

I decided to use a piece of square 5/16″ wooden dowel that I had on hand as it was light and strong and could be securely drilled and glued. I also wanted to put a “sleeve” on the handle so it was more comfortable to hold onto.

Cardboard sleeve and wooden dowel

I started by cutting pieces to hold the handle away from the case, then cutting a piece to be the handle itself. I then rounded the ends of the handle and since the sleeve was a black cardboard tube, I used a black permanent marker to color the ends of the wooden dowel.

Handle pieces with black marker

From here, I glued one handle end and clamped it, then drilled it to accept a bolt. I could only glue one end at a time because i have to be able to slip the cardboard sleeve onto the dowel.

Glued, clamped and drilled

Now I’m able to slip the sleeve on and it looks the way it should…

Handle with cardboard sleeve

With the sleeve on, I then glued and clamped the other end, then drilled it for bolting.

The other end glued and clamped

The handle can now be screwed to the case with some wood glue for strength and stability. The handle matches the look of the case and is pleasing and functional.

Handle attached

We’re coming into the home stretch… Next time I’ll show how I added the interior support structure that holds the ukulele in place and cushions it while in the case. Don’t go away…we’ll be right back!

 
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The clasp!

19 Nov

The clasp of the Calvin & Hobbes themed ukulele case is another piece of re-purposed fun. As you can plainly see, I fashioned this out of the handle of a cheap, dollar store paint brush. I had used it for a gluing job, which left it unusable for a second project. The handle was still perfectly good…why throw it away, right? I drilled a hole for the fastened end and a larger hole drilled for the clasp end and it worked great.

Re-purposed paint brush

Bolt added

Clasp installed on lid

Seen close-up, the clasp uses a re-purposed nut and bolt with a cut piece of margarine tub lid as a washer.

Close up of installed clasp

The gentle upward curve that the lid adopted as the mâché dried worked out well since the tension holds the clasp tight until you apply some downward pressure on the lid.

Clasp in place, holding lid on

The handle comes next time. I’ll get that post up after the Thanksgiving holiday. Stay tuned!

 
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Hinges are where the action is!

31 Oct

When I started thinking about the way the Calvin & Hobbes themed ukulele case would close, I had to decide how it would be easiest to get the top and the bottom to go together smoothly. I considered the usual way of hinging the back and clasping in the front (really, the front side and back side). The problem with that is it’s a shorter angle in which to make sure everything lines up and fits together. The irregular shape of the case also presents a problem because the hinges would have to be on the same “plane” in order to open correctly and placing them on a curve would be tricky. I finally decided to put a single “hinge” at the bottom of the snowman shape and a clasp at the head. This seemed to take care of the hinge plane problem and also made the lid go on easier because the curves acted to “line up” the shapes as I closed it. The papier-mâché sounds neat when it pops together.

I also decided to use a flexible material for the hinge so there was a little more forgiving play in it. What I wound up using was the drive belt from a little hand-held vacuum cleaner, cut into pieces. This was also a great way to use something odd that was re-purposed and reused.

Vacuum cleaner belt cut into hinge pieces

I then trimmed the ends to put a curve on them.

Trimmed hinges

I drilled holes in these pieces, then attached them to the lid.

Hinges attached

Inside the attachment

And finally, the attachment to the bottom of the case…

Attachment to the bottom

At the other end, the head of the uke case, I need a clasp, which I’ll describe next time. Until then, I welcome your input and comments!

 
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Lining the ukulele case

20 Oct

Last time, I put the lip around the inside of the case bottom that acts as guide for the lid. Now I need to add the pieces inside that will hold and stabilize the ukulele when it’s in the case. I did this by tracing the shape of the inside of the uke case bottom onto a double thick piece of corrugated cardboard. Then I traced the contour of the ukulele itself in the correct position within that shape.

Tracing the uke contour

I then cut out the outer shape.

Shaped for inside case

And then the uke shape…

The ukulele shape cut out

Now, in order to bring this piece up so the ukulele will nestle into it, I have to stilt it using uniform pieces of cardboard. I started by cutting a perimeter piece and gluing that into place, then adding a support scaffolding to the shaped areas.

Support scaffolding for the inset

This piece then was glued into place inside the case bottom. Eventually, it will be covered with a fleece material to protect the finish of the ukulele from scratches and snugly hold it in place while in the case.

Inset piece glued into place

Next, I’ll show how I made the “hardware” like hinges, clasps and handle. This kind of thing is always cool stuff because it allows you really reuse and repurpose materials so they are recycled instead of thrown away!

I encourage questions and comments and if the mood strikes you, give me a like on Facebook and tell your artistic friends to follow the blog. Til next time, keep creating your own pieces!

 
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Adding the lip

08 Oct

So, in order for the lid of the Calvin & Hobbes uke case to close and fit tightly, there has to be something to guide it. On other lidded cases and containers I’ve seen, they seem to put a thin inner lining piece that sticks up, creating a ridge that stabilizes and holds the lid in place. I’m using a medium fiberboard like what would be on the back of a pad of paper and I’m gluing it to the inside surface of the case bottom. It will stick up about a quarter of an inch all the way around.

Cut and curled fiberboard

I used a cardboard tube to add some curves to the fiberboard so it would fit and clamp a little easier, then I used wood glue to secure it and I clamped it as shown.

Clamped lip piece

With all the pieces glued in, the ridge is complete.

Lid ridge all in place

Close up view

The next step will be to cut pieces to go inside the case that will cradle the ukulele and prevent it from moving around. Stay tuned to watch how that gets done!

 
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Applying the cartoons

02 Oct

Now that the white base coat is on the Calvin & Hobbes themed ukulele case, it’s time to start adding some of the decorative elements. I just copied them out of my daughter’s prized Calvin & Hobbes books without her knowing. Because the shape worked well, I decided to use whole comic strips around the perimeter of the case, then close-cut larger elements to go on the top and bottom. I wanted to add these side elements before I added hinges and handle or I’d have to cut around them and that would’ve been a pain.

Applying the comic strips

As you can see, I used marker to add a little color to the otherwise black and white comics. Personally, I think the snowman themed Calvin & Hobbes strips were just about the funniest ones that Bill Watterson did.

Top and bottom

Next time, I’ll put the inner cardboard lip edge in. This will be the ridge that the lid slips over when you close the case. Isn’t it fun using recycled and re-purposed materials to make amazing art?

I can’t wait for my daughter to see this…she’s gonna flip!

 
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Edge taping

24 Sep

Now I have to seal the cut edges of both the lid and the bottom of the uke case. Using that paper box tape again, I wet a strip, apply it to the outside, then cut slits and lap it over to the inside so it follows the contour of the case.

Edge taping completed

Detail view

With both edges done, I need to base coat with white. It is, after all, a snowman and I need the under color to reflect that.

Painting the edges white

Detail of edge painting

Then, painting the rest of the case with a base coat of white…

White base coat

Next, I’ll start applying some of the cartoon images. It’s coming together nicely!

 
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Cutting the case apart

20 Sep

Before I actually cut the two halves of the Calvin & Hobbes ukulele case apart, I want to further stabilize it by taping the edges. There are times when I use standard masking tape for some of the secure taping on my papier-mâché projects. I suppose that for some of you purists out there, masking tape is nearly heresy, but consider that it IS paper, just paper that is pre-glued. In this case, I’m not using masking tape, however. I’m using the old fashioned box tape…you know the kind. The roll that is kraft paper with the glue already on it that you have to wet with a sponge.

Old fashioned box tape

I had been given a whole case of the stuff awhile back and I discovered that it was perfect for joining flat surfaces…like taping cardboard boxes…who knew, right?

Edge taping the uke case

I applied the half of the tape width on the curved surface of the case, then I cut the tape so as I lapped it over the edge, the tape could overlap and follow the edge without buckling. I also used the tape to cover the cardboard seams vertically and to cover the buckling of the cardboard as it followed curves.

Taped edges

Detail view showing vertical taping to hide corners

Now, the case is ready to be cut apart to separate the lid from the bottom. I just used an xacto knife again and tried to keep the blade as level as possible during the cut all the way around the case.

The case cut apart

I know that the shape of this case is kind of odd. It certainly works for the ukulele, but as mentioned before, it takes its inspiration from the Calvin & Hobbes “snowman” series. If you’re a Calvin fan, you’ll remember that he took out his frustrations by building outrageous snowmen in his front yard. What do snowmen have to do with a Hawaiian instrument, you ask? Absolutely NOTHING, but my daughter is a big fan of the strip and since this amazing art case is for her…it just worked as a theme! She’ll also appreciate that her old man is once again making cool stuff that’s fun and useful by repurposing and reusing scraps and junk. Isn’t Recycling great?

The next step will be to tape the exposed edges of both the top and bottom pieces of the case. This is starting to take shape…so keep your eyes peeled!

 
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Ukulele case gets a top

15 Sep

Last time I showed the Calvin & Hobbes ukulele case I’m making for my daughter with just the sides glued into position. To continue, I needed to trim out the bottom to the shape of the sides. I just used a #11 Xacto knife and close-cut as straight as I could to the perpendicular sides.

Bottom trimmed out

The next step of course is to flip and glue the top piece on. Later, I’ll cut the lid off of the case off by slicing through the side at a measured distance from the top. I need to do it this way because I need the stability of the top and bottom of the case glued in place so the lid doesn’t torque or lose it’s shape when sliced off.

Flipped, glued and weighted

So here’s what we get when the other side is trimmed. Now I have a solid box with top and bottom glued on and stabilized. Isn’t cardboard cool stuff?

Other side trimmed

Next time, I’ll show cutting the pieces apart and then I’ll begin doing the papier-mâché. I’m getting pretty excited now that the case is taking shape. Stay tuned!

 
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Ukulele Case

23 Aug

My daughter bought a ukulele because she became enamored by them watching the movie “50 First Dates”. As she plunked and tuned and learned chords, she also needed to safely transport the instrument if she took it places. I decided to use my love for re-purposed materials, recycling and Papier-mâché and make her a case. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I snuck the Uke out of her room for some surreptitious measurements. Then I needed to figure out a shape, afterall, I’m building it so it can be any shape, right?

I decided on a Calvin & Hobbes theme because my daughter loves that strip, and since the shape is close and  even though it has NOTHING to do with ukuleles, I chose the C&H snowman series as the inspiration…

I basically used 5″ wide strips of double thick corrugated cardboard, bent into the curves I’d drawn for the case, then applied wood glue to the edge and pinned it in place to dry.

Initial Shape

Completed base shape

I’ll continue to post the steps so that you can follow along and try this for a piece of your own!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed

 
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