The Time is here! Are you cutting up cardboard yet?
Find out more about the 2016 Cardboard Costume Challenge HERE
challenge
Cardboard Queen Bee Costume
Cardboard Queen Bee Costume by Amber
materials: cardboard, white glue, paper, apple cartons, paper twine
Cardboard Pumpkin Head
Cardboard Pumpkin Head Costume by Amber
materials: cardboard, craft paper, tempera paint
Cardboard Dragonfly Costume
Cardboard Dragonfly Costume by Amber
materials: paper, paper twine, cardboard, apple cartons, glue, watercolors
Matt Lentini Ren and Stimpy costumes
2015 Cardboard Costume Parade!
Matt and Nicole Lentini Matador and Bull cardboard costumes
Matt and Nicole Lentini Matador and Bull costumes
Ren, Stimpy and Log costumes by Matt Lentini and Matador and Bull costumes by Matt and Nicole Lentini
"Wild Things and Max" bicycle-friendly costumes sent by Sarah
Frank-Ein-Stein and Fox Head by Betsy A. Riley
Mosquito costume by Rebecca at Lepetitearbre
Robot costume by Manon Doran see more pictures at her blog Une Dahlia en Westfalia
Do you have photos to send? I'll keep updating this post. I would love to see your photos and the one-of-a-kind costume you made this year!
These costumes are pure cardboard magic. Thanks to everyone that sent photos and Happy Halloween 2015!
Cardboard Play Day!
UPDATE!
PLAY DAY WILL BE POSTPONED UNTIL NOVEMBER DUE TO BUILDING REPAIR.
REVISED DATE TO FOLLOW>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cafe Slow: 〒185-0022 Tokyo, Kokubunji, 東元町２丁目２０
The cafe will be closed that day, so please bring your obento!
A Visit from the Purple Unicorn
Mac Huynh, Writer: Unicorn, Photo by Patricia Chang for Racked
Malorie Lucich McGee, Tech Communications: Cereal Killer, Photo by Patricia Chang for Racked
Ben Chiaramonte, Brand Designer: Wolf of Wall Street, Photo by Patricia Chang for Racked
Our Cardboard Costumes Pinterest board was recently featured on The Pinterest Handmade Halloween Hub. Some Pinterest staffers even made their own costumes inspired by some on the board, including our own Cardboard and Newsprint Unicorn Costume, (top) which looks even better in purple, I think.
Cardboard and Newsprint Unicorn Costume by The Cardboard Collective
Workshop: Cardboard Creatures & a Pinata too!
in Workshops
I had a great time with all the kids and parents that came to the mask-making workshop. Their creativity transformed a pile of cardboard and paper recyclables into a fun menagerie of hats, masks, wigs and mythical creatures. I also loved sharing my family's long time tradition of making pinatas (this time in cardboard) with so many families who had no idea what pinatas were.
Thanks to everyone who helped with clean-up, spreading the word through email, my very kind friends who translated for me, and to everyone who came out on such a beautiful day to enjoy the fun of making and celebrating together.
Newspaper Witch's Hat
in Uncategorized, Make
Thinking in Cardboard
As we kick off another march towards Halloween, it's time to think in cardboard. What shapes do you see? What faces are peering out at you?
How can you use cardboard in a way it's never been used before?
The Cardboard Costume Challenge begins....
Pop-Up Cardboard Play Day #7
Another cardboard adventure out in the park!
This time I learned something important.
I love DEconstruction,
but
not destruction.
The kids that came out to play built a fun labyrinth of houses/caves and then slowly took the whole thing apart. It was really great just watching them. I saw a two year old saw cardboard for about an hour straight. In the same groove. I loved it.
Later in the week I took just the Windballs to another park to play, and a few teenage boys kicked them around a bit. It was good, I was glad to see them enjoying them, but then they just stomped on them, shattering the MakeDos to bits before running off. I didn't love it. My teacher voice came out.
Did you see the adorable pink cardboard kitchen that I found at the grocery store where I sourced all the cardboard?
Although it's already Mid November, I just wanted to say thanks again to all of you who took the Cardboard Costume Challenge this year.
Whether you sent in pictures or just got thinking about the idea for the future, thanks for following us on this year's Halloween adventure. I had so much fun working on our insect family costumes as well as the other costume tutorials.
I hope to see you again next year, and please visit the Pinterest Board now and then as you start scheming and dreaming for 2014. (I already have a request for a Humback Whale costume from the littlest one and a year might be just enough time to figure it out!)
Luna Moth Costume
AmberLuna Moth, 2013 Found cardboard and paper, egg and apple cartons, paper cord, watercolor, pastel chalk, white glue
Last in the series:
"Insect Family"
Cardboard Players Photo by Janet Chiang
More Cardboard Costume Challengers
Where the wild things are cardboard mask by Tara Middleton
Wall E by Jennifer Kent
A few spectacular cardboard costumes sent in, and don't forget to check out the Flickr pool if you haven't already!
Cardboard Costume Challengers
Send Your Photos!
Did you make your costume out of cardboard this Halloween? Were you excited and proud?
I'd love to publish your photos here on the blog or link to them, etc. so we can broadcast your cardboard creativity to the entire world!
Please email your photos to thecardboardcollectiveblog@gmail.com with permission to post or upload to the Cardboard Costume Flickr board HERE.
Cardboard robots always welcome.......
Gathering Inspiration & Making a Plan
When my daughter decided that she was going to be a butterfly this year, we thought, hey why not be a whole family of insects?
Then the real thinking began and we each had to commit to our insect of choice... My husband chose early and is following an entirely logical, and proper plan for attacking his costume, bit by bit. Although it's not typically my style ( I wish it was), I'm going to try following his approach this year too.
Here's what we've done so far:
1. Create an inspiration board. I like to use Pinterest. Here's a link to the board I'm using for my Grasshopper costume. I usually try to gather examples from the following categories to get a well rounded amount of inspiration and produce a unique and creative costume.
realistic images (many views)
inspirational costumes
images that address problems or difficult parts
images that inspire shapes or moods
2. Create a detailed sketch of your costume. I like my husband's approach of folding a regular piece of white paper in half vertically and drawing the costume from the front and back. It keeps it simple. After drawing, he began to add measurements.
3. Collect materials and prototype. I like to try smaller versions of some costume parts first to see if my ideas will work, then I know if I have to keep trouble shooting any parts of the costume.
How about you? Are you well on your way, or just getting started?
Cardboard Play Day at Kujira Yama (#6)
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Cardboard Kryptonite! We had light rain just after our event was set up for The Global Cardboard Challenge on Friday. Sadly, most of the kids we anticipated didn't show up. We didn't lose heart though, and a few brave souls trickled in after the weather cleared to inhabit the cardboard dwellings that were created. As always, it was great fun and I couldn't have done it without my husband's help, or the wonderful folks that run the play park adventure playground.
I had such a great time this year getting to know the folks at The Imagination Foundation, as well as other Cardboard Challenge organizers from around the world. This year there were more than 43 countries represented and 100,000 kids at the Global Cardboard Play Day. If you've ever thought about planning an event for your community next year, be sure to visit Caine's Arcade to find out more. You can be part of this amazing and inspiring cardboard movement!
More Cardboard Heads
We've already gotten our first photos for the Cardboard Costume Challenge!
Christine Scheer made this incredible Pavlov's Dog head entirely from cardboard for a cardboard costume charity event she attended in late September.
You can see how Christine started her head by making the upper and lower cardboard jawbone pieces and then used strips to connect the pieces.
This a truly original costume idea! Thanks for sending your awesome pictures Christine!
Cardboard Costume by Christine Scheer