My Interior Design Blog

Let’s pick up where we left off two posts ago. I promised to guide and explain everything I know about cardboard furniture. Than why don’t we start at the beginning. I entered this field about a year and a half maybe two years ago because my brother was sitting on my had (not literally, but almost). He wanted me to make something, anything, doesn’t matter what out of cardboard. So, I googled it and found a nice chat, (I would have added the link but it’s Hebrew, I don’t believe it would be useful ). I went to the first pages and started reading questions and answers, but it was too much so I just looked at pictures turned out I got it right. Well, there are several techniques I’m going to talk about the really, really easy one.

Ingredients For Any Project:

• Lots of cardboard
• Gummed tape
• Craft paper
• Hot glue gun
• Glue-All, white Elmer’s glue
• Acrylic paint
• Water based varnish
• Utility knife

• First step is getting a lot of cardboard, and I don’t mean like the boxes you buy shoes in, but the big ones, like from appliances and electronics. One really easy way to get those free is being familiar with your neighborhood’s “junk days” - the days that everybody put out the big trash. There is at list two “junk days” a week, and you will definitely find enough cardboard like this.

• You should figure out what do you want to build, I’m going to teach you about the rocking dog. After we decided on what we are building, you need to trace the image on a piece of cardboard. Don’t forget you should already draw the image the size you want it to be.

• Cut the image, and retrace it so you would have a total of 6 rocking dog profiles. Than after you cut everything, make three sets, each set glue to each other with the glue gun.
• Now, cut the “support beams” which are suppose to be about 2″ by 4″. Glue those beams in rows when the side of the 2″ is glued to the image of the dog. When you feel it’s enough put glue really quick on the edges of the beams and place over them another cardboard image. Do that again and you get a 3D rocking dog skeleton. Add a rope or wooden stick for comfortable grip.

• Measure the thickness of the dog, cut a long stripe of cardboard and cover where needed (around the perimeter of the piece).
• Now, comes the covering part. It may sound easy, and I’m not saying it’s hard, you just have to have patience. Take the craft paper and cut big piece, big enough for the whole side of the dog to fit. Put the white glue on the dog itself, place the paper on the dog, from the center and stretch out. Exactly like you would do with a wall paper. Put more glue on top of the paper and keep stretching from the inside out avoiding air babels. Do the same thing all over the dog. (For additional strength you may do another layer.

• Now it’s really FUN TIME!!! Paint, there are no direction for this. Like my presentation instructor always says :”It’s time to use your creative license”. You do whatever you want however you want.

• After painting, is one more step and we are done!! It’s time to sill the rocking dog for both paint protection and durability reason. I prefer the varnish that comes in the spray bottle, because it is simple application, not messy at all and the bottle is enough for several projects of this size.

Enjoy!!!