Cardboard Camera Creativity

Bored out of your mind? Looking for a challenge? Try creating something with cardboard! If you have corrugated cardboard laying around, you can turn it into a work of art! Let's get started!

• Cardboard(preferably corrugated)
• Hot glue
• Utility knife
• Cutting board/something that you can cut on

We are going to start with the front face of the camera. Sketch a rectangle onto your cardboard and cut it out with a utility knife.

Next, sketch three rectangles onto the cardboard. Each one should be the same shape, but gradually get bigger then the last so that it looks like the first picture above. Cut them out and glue them together starting with the largest on the bottom, then medium, and smallest on the top.

Now, take the hand grip and glue it to the left end of the large rectangle.

Draw a large circle and cut it out. Make it the size that you want the lens to be.

Once the lens base is cut out, draw a small circle. The circle should be much smaller in proportion to the large circle, as seen in the first picture.

Next, draw another circle that is a bit smaller then the previous circle, adding small notch to one side. Cut it out.

Glue the notched circle on top of the other small circle.

Sketch two medium circles onto cardboard and cut them out. Their size should be a little less then half of the size of the base of the lens from step #4. These pieces will be the direct center of the lens.

Draw out two rings the same size as the base of the lens from step #4. Cut both of them out.

Once you have cut both of your large rings, draw and cut out another lens ring that is small enough to fit inside the larger two rings.

After finishing the large rings and the small ring, pop the small ring into one of the larger rings. Now trace the two together so that you will have another base for the rings, but this one is a ring. When these two bases are glued together, it will help your rings to stand out more 3-dimensionally from the front face of the camera. Cut it out.

Glue the wide ring base from the previous step onto the large base circle from step #4. Glue both to the body of the camera so that the ring base is on the top. It should look like the picture above.

Next, take the two medium circles and glue them together. Then glue them in the empty circle located in the middle of the lens wide base ring.

Once the center lens is placed, glue both of the large rings together. Then place it around the smaller ring and glue it onto the bases.

Since the basic lens is finished, you are now going to make a strip of cardboard to wrap around your rings acting as the lens protector. Draw out a strip of cardboard that is long enough to wrap around it. Cut it out.

Now take the strip and pinch down the full length of the cardboard with your fingers. Flatten the corrugation of the cardboard so that it is as thin and pliable as possible. Wrap it around the outside of the lens and neatly glue it.

Take the first button that you made, from step #7, and glue it to the bottom right side of the lens.

Next, place your camera on cardboard. Measure and trace the long sides of the camera so that it is the width that you want. Cut them out with a utility knife.

After cutting out the long sides, glue them properly to the sides of the camera.

Once you have finished gluing the long sides of the camera, measure and draw out the short sides of the camera. Make sure they are the same width as the long sides that were just cut out. Now cut the short sides out.

Next, measure another large rectangle the same size as the front face that you first cut out. Draw and cut the large rectangle out. Glue both the short sides from the previous step and the large rectangle to the back of the camera. Now you have the complete body of the camera!

Cut out a small notched circle that is about the same size as the width of the camera. Glue it onto the left side of the top of the camera. Now draw a second circle that is the same size as the first, but don't add a notch. Cut out the second circle, then glue it to the top of the notched circle.

Now, draw one circle that is the same size as the width of the camera. Then, draw another circle that is a bit smaller then the other, and add a notch. Cut them out and glue them together so that the bigger one is on the bottom.

Now draw out four trapezoids that are all the same shape, but different size. The largest trapezoid has to be a small enough size to fit in between the two mode dials and be centered above the lens. Cut all of them out. Then draw and cut out a small rectangle.

Glue your view finder pieces(trapezoids) onto the top of the camera centered over the lens. Then glue your other mode dial onto the right side of the view finder. It should look like the picture above.

Next, draw a trapezium(A square with one corner that points out further then the other three corners). The trapezium should be about the same width as the top of the handle grip. After drawing it, cut it out. The trapezium should look similar to the second picture above.

After you finish the trapezium, create a normal square that is the same size as the trapezium. The square will connect, and support the trapezium.These pieces will add dimension to the camera.

Next, glue the trapezium onto the camera above the handle grip. Then glue the square on top of the camera so that it touches part of the trapezium.

Draw a small rainbow shape onto cardboard. Make it small enough to fit on the trapezium. Cut it out. Then, glue the rainbow shape onto the trapezium so that your camera looks like the third picture above.

Draw a small circle that will fit over the shutter button base(rainbow shape). Next, cut it out and glue it onto the base for the shutter button.

Draw out two small circles that are the same size. Then draw two other small circles that are a tiny bit smaller and draw a ring around one of them. Cut all of them out. Glue the small circle with the ring and one of the larger circles onto the left side of the lens. Glue the other two on top of each other so that the larger one is on bottom. Then glue it onto the right side of the lens.

Draw a shape like a bridge. Make sure that it is big enough to fit over the lens. The shape should look similar to the first picture above. Cut it out and glue it over the top of the lens.

After you finish adding the shutter button, draw a rectangle with a lot of lines through it. Make enough lines so that it will cover the lens when they are over lapping like the picture above. Cut all of the strips out with a utility knife and glue them onto the lens so that they fan out from the middle lens. After you have glued them on, it should look like the second picture above.

Trace the back of the camera. It should be a rectangle the same size as the body of the camera. Then draw a large square into it. Cut the outline of the body out, and the square drawn inside of it. It should look like the second picture above.

Now, glue the cut out screen onto the back of the camera.

Since you have finished attaching your screen, draw a small circle onto cardboard. Then cut it out and glue it on the right side of the back of the camera.

Sketch out three tiny circles for buttons. Cut them out and glue them around the large mode button.

Draw out two small rectangles and cut them out with a utility knife. Carefully cut little strips through the top layer of both of the rectangles. Glue one to the top right corner of the back of the camera, and the second one on the top of the handle grip on the front side.

Draw and cut out a semicircle. It should match the size of the glued view finder pieces (trapezoids) as the third picture shows above.

Now glue the semicircle to the back of the view finder on top of the camera. Carefully cut the top layer of the semicircle piece that was glued to the view finder. But don't cut all the way to the edge. Glue and cut it so that it looks like the second picture above.

Congratulations! You have finished your whole camera! Even though it takes a lot of time and patience, it is a cool work of art! You could also spray paint it to add additional "Wow" to your piece, but I really liked the natural cardboard look.

Thank you for joining me in this instructable project! Hope you enjoyed this challenge!

Please vote!🙂