Cardboard Illusion-themed Desk Organizer

Hi everyone, this is a tutorial for making a cardboard desk organizer. It consists of a top section with a phone stand and pen holder and an inner compartment that can store stationery or any kind of supplies. Although this specific organizer is decorated to be optical-illusion-themed, you can decorate yours however you like: favorite book/movie, favorite colors, et cetera.

Thanks for checking this out, hope you stay safe and have fun!

Materials:

• Cardboard
• Paper
• Glue (of any choice)
• Bamboo skewers (if not available, then you can use wire or rolled up sticks of paper)
• Yarn/string

Tools:

• Utility knife/scissors
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Ruler
• Compass
• Sharpie or any black marker/colored pencil

Extra Notes:

• In terms of cardboard and paper, you can manage mostly with scraps. Even if the base is too big, you can try combining pieces to reach the desired size.
• Many of the illusions will be drawn, but an alternative is to go online and print some of them out. In these cases, paper and markers will not be needed.
• Please be careful when handling sharp tools and objects! Adult supervision is advised.

Cut out the pieces as shown in the picture above:

- 4 7x22cm pieces

- 2 7x6 cm pieces

These pieces will be glued together into a rectangular box with one side left open. You can use the picture and diagram above to determine how to glue it together.

There will be two hinges for attaching the last side of the box. This will be done in a way so that it can open and close like a door. You will need to cut out 4 of the pieces as shown in the picture (in case the picture is too blurry, it reads: 1.5, 1, 1.5, and 4cm). You will also need to cut 4 2cm long bamboo skewer pieces. Make sure that the holes you poked in the cardboard pieces are big enough so that the skewer pieces can revolve freely within them.

After you have cut all the pieces out, bend the cardboard pieces and align two of them together as you attach them with the skewer, as shown in the picture. I wrapped the ends with a sliver of masking tape, but you can use any preferred stopper.

Lastly, use glue to attach the hinges to the "door" and edge of the box. Wait for it to dry before continuing onto the next step. As you may have noticed, I also added some cardstock to the edges of the "door" so that it doesn't cave in.

The pulleys will be used to open and close the hinged door, like a drawbridge. Given that we're making 2 of them, cut out 4 2 cm cardboard circles and 4 more 1.5 cm circles (the given measurements are the radius of the circles).

To form a pulley, glue the circles together in this order: large circle, small circle, small circle, large circle. Make sure that the holes align. By doing this twice, you should be left with 2 pulleys. On one of the pulleys, you can add a 1cm bamboo skewer to its edge to act as a rotation handle (this is shown in the picture).

Cut out 2 5x7cm rectangles of paper. Roll them up as shown in the image, using a bamboo skewer to determine how tightly they should be rolled up. After that, glue them on the back edges of the box.

Cut a bamboo skewer to the length of 25cm. After the paper rolls have properly dried on the box, insert the skewer. Make sure that it can revolve freely in the paper rolls.

Glue the two pulleys at opposite sides of the skewer. If anything sticks out, you can trim it.

While this last step can be done at any point throughout the project, you can start decorating. For my project, I drew a swirling illusion on one of the pulleys.

There's not exactly a right measurement for the string of the pulleys, given that some people may prefer a door that hinges further down. Though, for someone who wants it to hinge down roughly 90 degrees, an 18cm long string should be pretty accurate.

Cut out 2 2.5x1cm cardboard pieces. As shown in the picture, glue them to the opposite top edges of the door. Attach each string to each piece.

Make that you're being precise while glueing the string to the pulley. Both strings have to be glued in the same direction and leave the same amount hanging.

Lastly, to make sure that the "drawbridge" falls forward, you need to add a weight to the front of the hinged door. I added a box and provided a template if you want to do the same, but you have a lot of options: sticky notes, whiteboard, pencil sharpener, eraser shavings bin, et cetera.

This is also another opportunity to decorate. On the box, I drew a parallel lines illusion.

During this step, make sure that you let each part dry and add extra support if needed. The wheels and axles must be stable if they are to hold something heavy.

Cut out 20 1.5x2cm cardboard pieces. Poke a hole through each piece. Each of the 4 axles will be supported by 5 of these pieces, all layered together. While everything is drying, you can work on the next part.

Each of the 4 wheels will be made up of 2 cardboard circles. Cut out 8 circles with radii of 3cm. Glue two together to form one wheel. Poke a hole through its center point. You can add duct tape around the edge to give the wheels a better grip. Lastly, I also drew the Ebbinghaus illusion on two of them.

Attach each wheel with a 3.5cm long skewer. If needed, you can cut out another smaller cardboard circle to prevent the wheel from moving around. Let everything dry upside-down, so that the wheels don't end up caving inwards.

This last step is completely optional! If you want to make a phone stand or pencil holder to put on top of the organizer, I put the following instructions above. Otherwise, you can choose to leave the top empty or add something of your own choice.

You can also decorate the parts of each piece (I chose a few literal illusions to draw on the top).

Having some trouble? Here are some tips that might help:

• If your wheels are too wobbly, try extending the axle with more supports. To make sure that everything stays in place, add some pieces of cardboard to the sides as well. You can also add in a few smaller cardboard disks to prevent the wheels from caving inwards.
• If your hinged door won't stay closed, you can add some fitted slots; use velcro; build a sliding latch; or reduce the front weight.
• If your pulley drawbridge system is not working, the problem might be that the strings are different lengths or that they're attached to the pulleys in the wrong direction.

You can personalize the organizer to your own preferences. Here are some ideas:

• Add a net, divider, or shelf to the inner compartment
• Paint the entire project
• Build a cover for the top to make it portable
• Add a few more compartments to the back for more supplies

Thanks a lot for checking this tutorial out!