Sustainable + Recycled CARDBOARD Bowls (and Plant Pots!)

We have all faced the inevitable dilemma of deciding what to do when a large shipment of cardboard boxes (and the products inside them) comes in. Throwing them out is simply not an option when there are beautiful things like cardboard forts and swords. Now, to confuse and muddle your already difficult decision making process even further, I present to you a new project to do with all that CARDBOARD! Make yourself some amazing Sustainable and Recycled Cardboard Bowls (and Plant Pots!) following this simple Instructable.

• Cardboard (of course, but you can actually use many other types of paper products)
• PVA Glue (or another bonding agent)
• PLA Filament
• Spray Paint

Tools:

• 3D printer
• Clamps
• Scissors
• Blender
• Strainer

The models were printed on my CR-10 at .3 mm layer height at 60 mm/s and they were done in just under 12 hours. Pretty quick huh! When they had completed printing, did not even have to finish them. They were ready right off the build plate, and quickly moved on the next step.

Here are the files:

I'll admit it, this part involved quite a bit of improvisation. However, considering how haphazardly I did it and how well it came out, I do not think very much specificity is required. First, I began by ripping up a cardboard box with my hands into around 1in. by 1in. pieces (it just needs to be small enough to fit in your blender). Next, I mixed these pieces with water, around 1 part water to 2 parts cardboard, and chopped it till smooth in the blender. Then, I squished the resulting solution until there was hardly any water left in it and the cardboard had a clay-like consistency. Finally, with my hands, I kneaded in and hefty amount of wood glue into the mixture. Here, you can use any bonding agent, even natural, biodegradable ones like rice paste!

Luckily, as I forgot to add release agent, the cardboard slid relatively easily across these molds. All this process required was shoving lots of the cardboard mixture (more than you may think) into to the molds, then clamping as hard as possible without breaking the molds. This can be repeated several times until all of the gaps are filled as necessary. After this, you may want to wait several hours before moving onto the next step, as this will give the form some time to the harden and strengthen so that the mold can removed more easily in the next step.

As mentioned previously, now you are going to want to remove the mold from the form. I started off by removing the "press" first, then the bottom plate, before I pushed the whole form out of the mold. However, the molding process left some flashing on the corners of the mold, and so I easily cut these off with a knife. There was also some water left in the form, and we can't have that, so I put it in the oven for 20 minutes on drying mode at 150 C (300 F), and this removed all of it. Finally, I finished off the bowl / pot with a nice gradient of white spray paint around the bottom.

That's it! You're all done! You can now use this simple, easy to make bowl / pot for anything from pens, to coins, to even, you guessed it, plants! Think of all the possibilities! I hope you enjoyed this project thoroughly and make sure to vote for me in the cardboard contest. Thank you for reading!