Get The Technique
I just finished helping Laura with this adorable cardboard cat playhouse (originally designed by her husband for their cat, Maggie) for the new Pets section on the Martha Stewart site. I really loved working with the simple cardboard material and before I realized it, I started seeing amazing bits of cardboard inspiration all over:
From the opening of Ikea in Red Hook, a not-so-mini Brooklyn skyline complete with roof-top water tower and graffiti.
This beautiful cardboard type, found via Oh Joy!
These amazing creations by David Stark for a West Elm opening, made out of packaging materials, found on Design Sponge. I really cannot get enough of that toothbrush cup!
And Foldschool - an amazing site that offers free, downloadable patterns to create your own cardboard furniture. Perfect.
From: Amy Detrick | 3/27/09 at 11:13 am
Very cool creations. Question: does anyone know who one the "Gifts by You" contest? I can't figure out who or how to email someone about it, but it would be fun to know who won!
From: Regan Falcon | 3/27/09 at 12:17 pm
That's a lucky kitty! The cardboard projects are very impressive.
From: Laura Draper | 3/27/09 at 12:28 pm
Love this post! I am currently chronicling the cardboard art war that is going on between five of the art schools in Philadelphia, on my blog. The local state university's art school just moved from a suburban campus to a brand new building in the city's main campus, and they've decided to make themselves known by delivering four HUGE cardboard Trojan horses to the four other major art schools in the city. The horses had a note inside that declared an "art war" and requested a reply. Two schools have responded. It's been fun to see the schools react with healthy sense of humor, but I really loved how one school made something new out of their horse, instead of making something from scratch. Check out these links to my posts on the subject!
http://www.examiner.com/x-3706-Philadelphia-Arts-and-Crafts-Examiner~y2009m3d20-Tyler-students-drop-trojan-horses-on-Philly-art-schools
http://www.examiner.com/x-3706-Philadelphia-Arts-and-Crafts-Examiner~y2009m3d20-Moore-responds-to-Tylers-call
http://www.examiner.com/x-3706-Philadelphia-Arts-and-Crafts-Examiner~y2009m3d25-UArts-and-PAFA-respond-to-Tylers-challenge
From: Corinne Gill | 3/27/09 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Laura! Your art war posts are great - what a fun idea. I will definitely have to check back to see how it all turns out.
From: Melissa Gutierrez | 3/27/09 at 3:41 pm
That's so cute! I will be sharing this with friends who have cats!
From: Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor | 3/27/09 at 7:19 pm
What clever works of art! Could add a cardboard scratch post for the cat house. Bet they would like that!
From: Laura Draper | 3/27/09 at 8:00 pm
Thanks, Corinne, I have to admit I'm rooting for Moore College to win the battle since they are the women's art college in the city and I'm a 7 Sisters Grad, as I see you are, too! (Go MHC!)
From: Rowaida Flayhan | 3/28/09 at 7:35 am
Amazing cardboard projects. My son was taking Design Technology course in school and had to design a chair made of cardboard,and he looked at one of those websites, it was great and they displayed it in the school art exhibition. He is now in London studying in Architectural Association School of Architecture.
Thank you for posting this article I am sure it will inspire many young designers.
God bless
Rowaida Flayhan
From: Sonya Chloe | 3/28/09 at 11:58 am
Going Naked
I make things out of cardboard - painted things. Looking at all these fun "naked" cardboard pieces, makes me wonder if I too, could get down to basics, and make something out of (gulp) unpainted cardboard. I have so many different kinds of paint left over from various projects, it's very easy to find just the right color for whatever I'm making. But "go naked" with cardboard - eek!
Tip: Looking for cardboard? Go to the grocery store while they are stocking shelves - walk by with an empty cart - say, "I'm doing a craft project - could I have some of those boxes?" And you will get all you need (I think it saves the store employees some work). Also, I find after a long stint of writing or other intellectually draining activity, or a stressful day at work (SDAW), cutting cardboard boxes into smaller pieces with an X-Acto knife or box cutter is really satisfying (though be careful with the sharp blades)!
From: Stephanie | 3/30/09 at 12:38 pm
Fab! Too cool for school.
From: Rebecca Farrell | 3/30/09 at 5:23 pm
Great paper project!
I have separate question though that I hope you can help with. Before the blogs were broken down by department someone from MS posted about a theme party that had a great project that took an image and enlarged it by allowing you to print it out in pieces (it was a Marie Antoinette type image that was shown). Do you remember the post, and more importantly the site link? I am very interested in doing something like that but can't seem to find an online resource.
From: Corinne Gill | 3/31/09 at 3:12 pm
Hi Rebecca- Thanks for your comment! I'm not quite sure what project your looking for, but maybe these links will help:
From the sadly departed Blueprint Magazine, a story about enlarging photographs and ephemera to hang on your walls
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/the-wall-photo-enlargement-projects?autonomy_kw=photo%20enlarging&rsc=header_1
And rasterbator, an online resource that will create over-sized pdfs of images you download. A friend of mine did one with a strip of photo-booth pictures that turned out great
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
Hope these help!
From: occalculk | 7/7/09 at 6:43 pm
Hi. And see you again.
From: lighter holder | 8/11/10 at 11:15 am
I bet that cat loves its new city. That card board city looks so cool I wish that I had a card board city. They need to be careful though one little fire and that city could go up in flames. I think they should buy a lighter holder because if the lighter goes off near that city and it catches fire that city is done for. Lighter holders are great because they keep you safe and you will never lose your lighter.