Cardboard Furniture Project

In our class, entitled "Maker's Lab," we were given an assignment to design and make a cardboard piece of furniture. Needing inspiration, I googled some "unique furniture" ideas and came up with a couch/chair combo that, although I knew it might be difficult, I decided to try to imitate out of cardboard for my project. We began by making a roughly 1/6 scale model.

1. Brainstorm/ Sketch - Initially, I was deciding between doing a cardboard model after the plastic storage drawers that many people at our school have in their dorm rooms, and doing a model after the picture of the odd couch/chair that I found on google images. Following are my images from the brainstorm, as well as my initial sketch of my couch/chair with dimensions for both the larger version and the scale model.

2. Constructing scale model - We were given instructions to first construct a 1/6 scale model of our furniture before going full size. Not being too precise with my measurements, I did have to add, subtract, and adjust where necessary in order to get the scale model looking how I wanted, as can be noted in the image of the completed model below. Eventually, the final project turned out agreeably and I decided to move on to making the full size one, again giving myself little restrictions as far as measurements go and trying to adopt a more feel-as-you-go attitude.

3. The beginning cuts/ laminating pieces together - The day after I completed my scale model, I decided to begin cutting the bigger pieces to make the full size piece of furniture. I didn't use very precise measurements, similar to before, but I did make careful cuts and decide that I would be doing 8-10 layers of cardboard for the back of the chair starting with 4 ft x 4ft for a slice of cardboard, and only cutting off bits of the top. I decided I would wait to cut off the bottom portion until I had constructed the bench part and began gluing that on.

4. Trimming the back of the chair - After laminating my first ten layers of cardboard together to form what would be the back of my chair, I needed to trim the edges to be even (and of course aesthetically pleasing) before I moved on to creating the first few layers of what will form the bench and gluing that on. I used a machine cutter/saw to create smoother edges, with the help of my teacher, since I did not perfectly glue the layers together.

5. Creating the bench - After asking for the advice of my teacher, I decided to create the bench/couch combination by first just creating a smaller bench with half the layers that I actually wanted, then adding the lower layers that would extend into the couch later.

6. Adjusting the design - After creating what turned out to be the 8 layers for the bench, I began to think more closely about how to design the connection between the bench and what would be the formed (curved) cardboard that would make up the sort of couch part of the furniture so that it would be smooth. After talking to the co-leader of our class, Dan, he gave me the idea of using a finger joint pattern. I would take the eight layers I had cut, and cut the top 6" off of four, then layer them so that is went long, short, and so on. Then, when I designed the formed pieces, I would layer them similarly so that the layers of both would lock together.

7. Creating the finger joints - I created another eight layers that would be the second part (the formed part) of the bench. This part would have to curve. In considering how to make it curve, I decided I could probably use a small round trash can that we have in the Maker's Lab to form the pieces around. First, I decided to cut the proper finger joints between the eight layers of the bench and that of the form. Then, I would laminate and form them.

8. Failure and lamination - Originally, I thought that I should just glue each layer together flat, then laminate them all, then form them. I tried this with the first two layers using panel adhesive. However, when this plan didn't work out and got a bit too messy, I decided (with Dan's help) to laminate all 8 layers of the bench, then all 8 pieces of the curved form, and then use the finger joints to fit them together.

9. Finishing and trimming the bench - I finished laminating together all 8 layers of the multi-length bench to create a finger joint pattern, then I sawed off the edges to make it smooth. The next step will be doing something similar with the layers that will become the curved piece after shaping.

10. Forming the curve - Before I laminated the pieces of the second half together, I decided to try to form the curved piece of the bench. In order to do so, I decided to completely wet the pieces of cardboard and tie them around a form. (In this case, a trashcan) Then, I would let them dry overnight. In order to assure that this would work, I only did it on two pieces of cardboard. If it didn't turn out as planned, it would be back to the drawing board.

11. A bump in the road/ revisiting how to form - After viewing the results of wetting and forming cardboard, I decided there may be a better and less time consuming way to form the layers of the curve. I first experimented with just wetting part of the curve and attaching a box to the trashcan to hold the straight part of the form straight. This idea also seemed impractical, which is when our teacher Dave introduced a new method I could use. I would score the cardboard enough to make it bendy and hold a curve but not enough to break through the cardboard.

12. Finishing the curved pieces - I scored the layers of cardboard I had already cut using a technique similar to that shown above. I also cut an extra three layers of "roll-y" cardboard that would act as a veneer on the outside of my finished, laminated, layered curve.

13. Laminating the curve - This was one of the most challenging parts of the process so far. It was a bit tedious and very tricky to laminate the curved pieces together since not all of the curves were exactly the same and the pieces didn't always perfectly match up. Nonetheless, I made it work with what I had and laminated over a roller, using an abundant number of clamps, to give the layers the shape I wanted. In the photos below, I have not yet added "roll" cardboard to my layers.

14. Putting the finger joints together - After laminating my curve together and allowing it to solidify, I laminated one additional layer of roll cardboard on the back in order to provide a veneer. After doing this, I worked with the assistance of my teacher Dan to put the finger joints together and glue them so that the bench and curve would be connected.

15. Trimming the edges - After putting a very big part of my project together, I wanted to make it look nice too. I decided to trim the edges off using a jig saw and my teachers' help.

16. Trimming the back and creating the extra connection - After creating the full bench/curve and measuring up where I wanted it to go on the big back I had previously created, I decided to saw off the excess on the bottom of the back. From the excess I would cut a part that would connect the curve to the back.

17. Putting the back and bench together - After talking with my teacher, I decided to just directly put the back onto the bench and forego the extra connection I was going to cut. I put the two together using panel adhesive and then placed heavy wood over top in order to get the two to tack up.

18. Creating the legs - I decided to use four similarly sized cardboard tubes for the legs of the chair. In order to give them some texture, I hot-glued roll cardboard to their outside.

19. The finishing touches - After finishing the legs and allowing the glue to tack up, the chair was essentially finished. I didn't plan to glue the legs to the chair until it was ready to be displayed in our showcase next week. In order to finalize the details, I placed the chair over the legs for balance, glued supports to the bottom of the legs, and created the railing/arm.

20. The Final Product! - We put the projects on display in the gallery of our arts building for all the community to see!