Welcome to my cardboard craft blog

Whether you are just plain bored or simply too broke to purchase other materials; cardboard is free! Cardboard is such a versitile craft medium that you can make just about anything from it. All you need is a little knowledge about different construction techniques to ignite your own art passion for cardboard. This blog is intended to show the construction techniques I use in my own cardboard crafts. When you learn the secrets of creating strength with cardboard you can create whatever you desire. From simple items like picture frames to extremely large pieces of usable furniture; it will all be possible. Travel along with me as I show you the secrets hidden within the cardboard. Go green or save a tree or just to keep it out of a landfill.... whatever your choice of phrases.... start creating your own cardboard art. If you find this blog helpful, please recommend it to your friends.

If you are new to this blog it's best to read the numbered labels first. ie: 1 - What do you see? 2 - Tools you need etc.

In those labels you will find the basic information you need to get started making your own cardboard furniture and crafts.



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The secret revealed


In order to construct cardboard furniture you need to know where cardboard is strongest.  Knowing where the strength of the cardboard is, is the secret ingredient for it's construction.  You don't want to make a whole piece of furniture only to have it collapse the first time you put something heavy on it or in it.  So here's an experiment.  Take a cardboard tube and stand it on end.  The one I'm using is a paper towel tube.




Now try to crush it top to bottom.



How about something heavier?




How about something even heavier?




Not easy to do is it?  If I had 4 or 5 tubes taped togehter, I could probably stand on it without any fear of falling.  Ok, lay the tube on it's side and crush it.



Much easier this time.  Ok, now let's try a cut piece of a cardboard box this time.  Flutes going up and down.  Flutes are the wavy line paper inside the cardboard.



Try to crush it.  Hard to do huh? 




Now lay it on it's side and push.  Much easier isn't it?




There you have it.  The secret of cardboard furniture construction.  The strength of the cardboard lies in the direction of the flutes.  Look at any cardboard container and you will see that the flutes go from top to bottom on the outer sides.  This is where the box is strongest for stacking one on top of another. 

The flutes of cardboard are very much like the round strength of a tube.  The more flutes together the stronger the strength.  When you are constructing your furniture, the strength of the flutes should go from top to bottom whenever possible.  The more times you repeat the flutes, going in the right direction during construction, the stronger your furniture piece becomes.  The strength of the construction using the natural strength of the flutes and  is why a person can make cabinets and dressers and couches and chairs..... etc.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm sure you know this but thought it worth mentioning only because my husband corrected me once about they difference between cardboard and corragated board. Cardboard is really a pressed paper. and Corrogated is the one with the flutes in it.. It has different gauges to it..I know because we owned a cutting die operation and sold the dies to corrogated box manufactures, Corragated board is alway sturdier

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