DIY:

Cardboard Projects-Book Rack and a side table N K Srinivasan

Introduction Cardboard furniture is fun to make and rather easy; you do not need to use power tools. You need to use a box cutter --be careful with this. You can assemble cardboard parts using a glue [school white glue will do] and decorate with colorful paper or paint the surface with poster paint or water color or acrylic paints. cardboard furniture is a green stuff--environmentally friendly and recyclable. It costs very little except for your time! It is light and easy to carry...It can be quite strong, as you know that boats and even bicycles have been made using cardboard. Here I describe two projects: a "Book Rack" that can sit on your table or any shelf; a "Side Table" to keep coffee cups or time piece or

books! Keep ready a number of corrugated cardboard sheets, taken from container boxes. Materials Required: 1 Cardboard sheets [corrugated, 2 or 3 ply] 2 White glue or other glues. Do not use glue gun. 3 A box cutter or X-acto knife 4 Colored paper for decoration. 5 A rule to measure dimensions 6 Scissors 7 Paints--poster or water-color or acrylic. [My preference is for acrylic color paints.] 8 Sealing tape or duct tape [for project 2.]

Project 1--Book Rack

The rack has three parts: 1 The base plate 2 The side plate 3 Bracket for support. Construction:

1 Base Plate --Make the base plate using three sheets of corrugated cardboard. --Cut a rectangle of 16 in x 9in sheet. ---Cut out 2 in squares from the four corners and remove. You are left with two stubs along the width; the stubs are of size 5in x 2in. ---Bond the three identical sheets one over the other, by using white glue....smear the glue using a plastic knife uniformly over the total area and press the sheets together,after stacking ,using your palms, press gently; later keep heavy books on top and allow the glue to set for 2 hours. Now you have formed the base plate.

Side Plates
You need two side plates. Construction:

--Cut a square sheet of 9in x9in.

---Draw a line 1 in from one of the edges. --On this line, draw a slot of 5in x 1/2 in , centered along the side.

---make a slot of 5in x 1/2 in , using the box cutter. --- make curved edges at the top corners for nice appearance. Note : The slot width of 1/2in is arbitrary---it depends on the thickness of your base plate, which will be inserted through the slot. You have to paste two sheets of this shape to make one side plate.Glue as before and let it set for 2 hours, under a heavy book. --make two such side plates.

Support Brackets
You need two support brackets to keep the side plates firmly positioned. Construction: --Cut two cardboard pieces of 9in x 6in.

---Cut a slot at the edge of the pieces , one inch above the bottom side; the slot dimensions are 1 in x 1/2 in. Note that the support bracket slides into the stub of the base plate and touches the side plate to keep the side plate secure and prevent side plate slipping out. ---Make a curved shape for the top outer edge of the bracket. --paste the two pieces together with glue and press with a weighty book. --Allow the glue to set for 2 hours. Assembly Now comes the fun part of the assembly. ---Insert the two side plates on either side of the base plate through the slots, keeping the side plate vertical.Align properly the edge of the side plate near the slots; make minor adjustments as needed. Fill the gap at the slot with lot of glue. ---Insert the support bracket on either side into the stub of the base plate, all the way till the edge of the support touches the side plate. Apply glue along the

vertical lines of the bracket.

---Paint and decorate the base plate,side plate and the support.You can use paints or pictures cut from paper images or any other method...feel free to use your imagination, keeping with any theme you may have in mind for the rack. --Cover the edges of the cardboard plates with sealing

tape to cover the ugly corrugations. The image of the rack is given above. I have used white acrylic paint for the side plates and brackets and pasted a sticker-- paper for the base plate. Enjoy and display on your table/shelf!

Project 2: A Side Table

This project uses some engineering principles since we want the table to carry some weight and it should not wobble or buckle. The table consists of three parts: 1 Central Pillar 2 Top plate or table top 3 Bottom plate Central Pillar: For this, we construct a central leg or pillar with triangular tube construction. Triangular tubes: You need six tubes. Each tube is of length 18 in and with cross section of

a triangle [equilateral] with width 3 in. ---Cut a rectangular sheet of 9 in width and 18 in length. ---along the length, make two creases separated by 3 in. You can make the crease with the blunt edge of a knife or cutter. Do this gently. ---Gently fold the sheet along the crease, so that you get a tube of 3in side and a triangle shape and 18 in length. ---Use sealing tape or duct tape along the length to secure the edges so that the tube is firmly formed. .Make sure that the tape firmly holds the sides to form a rigid tube. --make six tubes. ---The central pillar is formed by placing the six tubes vertically together [to form a hexagonal cross section] and a rigid pillar. Again use tape to secure all the six tubes together. Wrap the tape tightly, so that the tubes are kept together.

Top Plate or table top --Cut cardboard pieces of 11in x11in --4 numbers --Paste them one above the other, using the instructions given above and setting with the glue for 2 hours, using a heavy book to

press on the sheets. ---Cover the top surface with a paper sheet or plastic laminate or any board.

The bottom plate : --Cut two pieces of cardboard 9in x 9in and paste them together.

Assembly; Now comes the fun part. -- Just paste the top plate to the central pillar and the bottom plate to the other side of the pillar. Liberally apply glue to secure the bond..Apply some heavy book to press well.Allow 2 hours for the glue to set. --Cover the sides of the central pillar with paper or paint the surface in any manner you like. ---Paste or paint over the exposed parts of bottom plate. The central pillar construction and the finished side table are shown in the images.

Contact nksrinivasan@hotmail.com for additional details/instructional help. Have fun with construction of cardboard furniture for your home or for gifts to others.!! -----------------------------------------