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Vignette 3.5"hx5"wx3"d
shadow box Assembly
Required tools and
shopping list:
- X-acto knife and fresh
blades
- Small detailing scissors
- Metal straight edge ruler
- Small artist's paintbrush
- Larger paintbrush (for
adhering wallpaper)
- Glue gun and
glue sticks. This works the absolute best on seams of
the actual box assembly.
- Small pieces of aluminum
foil to use as "glue pot" and "paint
palette"
- Fast-grab, quick-dry
glue. Nicole sells a great one. White craft glue
takes too long to dry and is messy. Glue stick
will work, but becomes brittle and pops loose
after time.
- Check your printer's
colorfastness. You will need to spray each print
job with spray clear polyurethane, but your ink may
still run. Do a test on a simple printing. If
the color runs with the craft glue, then try
to use rubber cement instead for papering walls.
- Excellent quality heavy
weight inkjet paper--why do all this work on
paper that doesn't pick up the detail and
color!! I used Epson S041568 Double-sided Matte
Paper, 47 lb, 9.7 mil.
- Use a lighter
weight inkjet paper for the shelf unit.
- Print the box pattern pieces
on plain office bond--nothing special needed for
the black and white pattern outlines.
- Cutting surface. I love
my self-heal Nicole cutting pad which cost me
under $10 on sale. You get a much better cut
than with cardboard and your blade will last so
much longer.
- 3.5"x5" simple frame with
glass or clear plexiglass (remove backing)
- Hold Tu Plastic
Adhesive (it's that rubbery clay that you use to
hang posters on a wall without damaging the
wall) heretofore referred to as "sticky
compound."
- A sheet (you could call
it a plank) of foam board, a.k.a. foam core
board, that is at least 8.5"x11" and is 3/16" thick.
Patterns will not work for any other thickness!
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1. Print out all the pattern
pieces (use regular office paper for patterns).
Print out on "good"
paper all 3 files for box covering and the shelf
unit.
Place the page of
board patterns on top of the foam board as shown.
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2. Take a little dot
of sticky compound and place strategically under
each pattern piece and press down firmly. This helps
to hold the pieces in place while you cut them out.
Start
heating up the glue gun. |
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3. Make sure that there is a
fresh sharp blade in the X-acto knife. Proceed to
cut foam board pieces using a metal ruler as your
guide. Attempt to make cuts straight down into the
foam board. If you hold the blade at an angle, rather
than perpendicular to the table, your pieces won't
assemble perfectly. |
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4. Swiftly apply hot
glue to the cut edge of the floor. Notice that the
floor is affixed onto the back wall piece, not to
the end of the back wall. |
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5. Repeat the above
step for the ceiling piece. |
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6. Check fit of the
side wall pieces. Place hot glue quickly to the
appropriate three cut edges of the left wall piece.
Bow the floor and ceiling outward slightly with one
hand and slide the piece into place. Press firmly
until glue is cool. |
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7. Repeat the step for
the right wall piece. Clean any lumps and bumps off
the surfaces. |
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8. Carefully cut out
all pieces of wall paper and desk faux drawer unit. |
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9. Paint a good layer
of glue to pre-folded and pre-sized ceiling piece.
Position and press into place into box. Repeat for
flooring piece. |
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10. This can be
difficult to do, and I ended up with a little fold
on the overlap. I took a blade tool and trimmed the
fold away once the glue was dry. |
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11. Pre-fold and
pre-size the wallpaper panel. Next, pain glue to the
back wall (not the wallpaper) and press into
position. When satisfied, paint the left wall and
press left wallpaper into position. Repeat for right
wallpaper. |
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12. Make sure the desk
unit will fit box, trim if needed. Fold the faux
desk drawer unit as shown and glue the item to make
a hollow slab as shown. If you are afraid that you
may crush the unit once it is in place, you can fill
with stacked cardboard. |
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13. Fold in half and
glue blank sides together the drawer unit's top.
Check fit into box width and trim if needed. |
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14. Position the
drawer unit in the back of the box and glue into
place. Do also with the drawer unit's top. |
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15. Paint glue to one
of the box side pieces and apply as shown. Start at
the front edge to assure that it is lined up
properly and centered. from top to bottom. You will
need to cut a straight line at the corner's crease.
Make sure that the surface is nice and smooth, and
the fold-over to the back is smooth.
Repeat for the other
box side piece.
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16. Pre-size,
pre-crease, and pre-cut the long piece that will
wrap the top, back and bottom. Paint glue to the
piece and adhere it to the box. |
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17. You can use a
frame as it is purchased or paint it as shown in the
sample. The dark wood of the frame I purchased was
sprayed with white paint to make it easier to paint.
Then I used craft paint to finished the job--front,
back and inside surfaces. |
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18. Keep track of
where the box came from. Glue the kitty logo to the
back of the box. |
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19. Glue the glass in
place in the frame. One small dot of glue at each
corner. |
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20. In the case of the
prototype, the fit was so good that I didn't need to
do anything but press the frame in place and set on
the table. The box is so small that it could be hung
easily to a wall.
All the miniatures
shown here are Paper Minis kits and were affixed
with sticky compound so that items can be removed
and looked at. Please be aware that though the
compound is supposed to be removed from the surface,
it will stick and make marks to the surface of the
wallpaper and miniatures. |
