Cardboard

“ CARDBOARD AND PAPER TOYS INVOLVING USE OF RULER, SET-SQUARE, SCISSORS, AND KNIFE
Materials. The cardboard used should not be too thick; medium thickness is best (threepence a sheet) . Almost any paper that is not too thin can be used for making hinges. All kinds of cardboard boxes will be found of great use in making shops, engines, etc.
Tools. Scissors with round points are safer for children to use, though perhaps not quite so suitable for the work. ”

“ The Cardboard Sides are much easier to prepare than those for the touring-car, as they are straight and require but little cutting. The outline for these is shown in Fig. 175, surrounding the drawing of the completed wagon. Lay out one side upon a piece of cardboard, using the dimensions given upon the drawing, and then place it upon a board and cut it out with your knife. Using this as a pattern, place it upon another piece of cardboard and run a pencil around its edges, thus marking out the second side. ”

“ Price cards shown in the center of the reproduction were made of white cardboard. Numerals were written in with black ink with model “B” speed ball pen. Each card features a different colored, flat band border of dark blue, tangerine, maroon, orange, mauve and bright yellow, respectively. This border is made by “chiseling” the brush out perfectly flat and laying it full width, or whatever width may be desired, on the edge of the card and dragging it steadily down on each edge of the card. Colored borders on price cards add much to their attractiveness. ”

“ You will notice that the pieces of material are an inch larger each way than the cardboard they are to cover. When you lay a piece of cardboard on a piece of material there should be 1⁄2-inch of material all round, outside the cardboard, for turning over. Crease it over the edges of the cardboard all round, turning it in under again at the corners, as you see in the little picture. Start by taking a few stitches at the first corner, carry your needle on to the next corner, and again take a few firm stitches. ”

“ Wind bright-colored wool through the hole and over the cardboard very evenly, using a darning needle because it is such a small hole. Wind on wool until all the cardboard is covered evenly. Then take a piece of wire about six inches long, or a hairpin will do if straightened out. You can do this by holding the ends tightly in each hand and rubbing the pin backwards and forwards against the edge of a table. At one end of the wire bend it, so that it makes a little loop, the smaller the better. ”

“ Young placed before a hole in a shutter a piece of thick paper perforated with a fine needle, and receiving through it the diverging beams on a paper screen, found that when a slip of cardboard one-thirtieth of an inch in breadth was held in such a beam of light, that the shadow of the card was not merely a dark band, but divided into light and dark parallel bands, and instead of the centre of the shadow being the darkest part, it was actually white. ”

“ Take a narrow piece of stiff cardboard, or a flat stick about five inches long and about one inch wide, and make a slit at each end: between these two slits stretch a piece of thin string and then, about the middle of the strip of cardboard, wind the wool over and over till it is like a ball. Do not allow the wool to spread too far along the cardboard. When the ball of wool is two, or two and a half inches in diameter, loosen the string from the slits, and slip out the cardboard carefully from the ball; you will not have a bundle of wool with a string running through all the loops. ”

“ Each one should have several old magazines and a sheet of cardboard, as well as scissors and a tube of paste. The leader, who may be one of the children or an older person, explains the game as follows: Each child is expected to make a picture on his sheet of cardboard to illustrate some fairy tale. It is not necessary to draw it; he can cut from the magazines people and properties and scenery and paste them upon the card. He must be sure not to tell anyone the story he has chosen. ”

“ All I have to reply is, that the cardboard may in practice be reduced to a thin sheet of paper weighing only a few grains, or to a piece of gold beaters' skin, or even the end of the lever, and (in principle) to the very cuticle of the finger itself. Then the results that follow are too absurd to be admitted: the table becomes an encumbrance, and a person holding out the lingers in the air, either naked or tipped with gold beaters' skin or cardboard, ought to be drawn about the room, &c. ”

“ Cut the cardboard strips the length of the sticks, and tack them to the sticks as shown in the illustration. If inch and one-half spools are used for the car wheels, the inside gauge of the tracks should be an inch and three-quarters. By lapping the cardboard strips over the ends of the sticks, and the sticks over the ends of the cardboard strips, and placing the nail dowels in the ends of the sticks as in the drawing, a strong track is formed when the pieces are fitted together. ”

“ If you have used white cardboard for the walls, and not injured its calendered surface when cutting the openings, it will have a good plaster appearance. Otherwise, cover the cardboard with white or tinted paper. Paint the wainscoting and the door and window trimmings brown. To set up the room, bend the walls into the shape shown in Fig. 343. Then cut three strips of cardboard several inches longer than the width of the room and slip them into the slots you have cut in the tops of the walls B and D (see Q, R, and S, Fig. 343) . T is a drop like S, but is suspended in front from the gridiron. ”

“ If work is being done in class—such examples should be exhibited to the students.
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EASTER CARDS
Plates used by permission of Ely & Walker Dry Goods Co., St. Louis.
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DESCRIPTION OF CARDS FOR SUMMER
Card No. 1. Size 16×22 inches. Made of white cardboard with air-brushed panel in light blue and panel is striped with faint white lines. You will note that the lines are heavier at the top and bottom, apparently “fading out” toward the center. This produces a very cool, elusive effect, suggesting water. The lettering is done in white color with slight air brush shading in light green. ”

“ Slip one end of your wool through the hole of both pieces of cardboard when they are laid together, tie it in a knot, and with your fingers at first, and later with a darning needle, keep winding the wool through the hole and over and over the cardboard until it is all covered. ”

“ One method is, to cut out from a thick piece of cardboard a circle rather larger than the size wanted. Dr. Carpenter recommends metal rings with a piece of wire soldered on either side; and this, perhaps, is the best, as cardboard is apt to become rough at the edge when much used. A friend of mine uses thin brass plates with circles of various sizes “turned” through them, and a small raised handle placed at one end. ”

“ A pretty box for jewellery is one that is almost as easy to make as the napkin ring. Get a sheet of thin white cardboard. The brown cardboard is a very weak material and easily bends and breaks. Cut two circles of cardboard five inches in diameter. Use compasses to inscribe the circle, so that it may be perfect. Then cut a strip seventeen inches long by two inches wide. From the centre of one of the circles cut a two-inch circle. This piece will be the top of the box. Now thread your needle with a strand of the raffia which has been soaked in water and buttonhole in raffia over the cardboard. ”

“ Widen these slits also with a file.
Next cut out the cardboard figures. Draw head, body and one leg to be cut out in one piece; about 3 inches of cardboard should be left below the foot (M and N in Fig. 424) , the total length of figure being about 8 inches. Cut out another figure like this. Make holes just below the foot as at D in Fig. 424.
Next draw and cut out legs, F and H. Notice that they do not project so far inside the box, their length being about 31⁄2 inches. Fasten these to the figures by paper-fasteners. Next cut out a long strip of cardboard, A B, 1⁄2 inch by 14 inches. ”

“ Fill [Pg 85] in alternate rings with black ink or water-color, in the way shown, then cut out the disk, pierce a hole through its exact center to fit over the pencil end, and glue the under side to the top of the cone-shaped piece of spool. Spin this top in the same way as the shoe-polish can top is spun (Fig. 125) .
Fig. 132.—A Merry-go-round Top.
A Merry-go-round Top (Fig. 132) is a new idea easily carried out. You will require a cardboard disk 12 inches in diameter, three spools, a pencil, and some light-weight cardboard. ”

“ Wheels for railway carriages are often made of it, and they never warp under the action of heat or cold, neither do they crack nor bend. You can make this 125 cardboard for yourself of very good quality by this process:—Take a sheet of writing-paper—the better the quality the better the result will be—cover it with good flour-paste in which there is a little alum and glue and a few drops of oil of cloves, which latter will prevent paste from turning or souring. ”

“ Owing to the burnished surface of these boards show cards keep clean for a much longer period than when ordinary cardboards are used, and frequently varnishing can be dispensed with if enamelled boards are not exposed to weather. Coated boards must be handled with care at all times, as the surface is sensitive to grease and moisture, notwithstanding its dustproof tendency. Cloth-lined and cloth-surfaced boards are used for club cards, being very durable and folding well. The white side should always be the inside. ”

“ A pair of compasses is a good thing to have; but you can make a perfectly serviceable tool by cutting out a narrow strip of cardboard about four inches long and boring holes at [Pg 244] intervals, of a quarter of an inch, through which the point of a pencil can be placed. If one end of the strip is fastened to the paper with a pin you can draw a circle of what size you want, up to eight inches across.
Materials
These are the materials needed when making paper furniture:—
A few sheets of stiff note-paper or drawing-paper. ”

“ Some boards are made with grey middles and poor facings, but it is possible to obtain a good class of boards at a moderate price, and it is far more satisfactory to keep a stock of material of good appearance than to obtain the lowest quality possible. White cardboards should be rigid, of good colour, smooth, and should be so well sized as to be suitable for post-cards or similar work. ”

“ The blackboard consisted of a few small boards nailed together and painted black, and the charts were of cardboard, 18 x 24 inches in size. There were ten of them printed on both sides with syllables, and Tebele words and sentences. ”

“ Strong heavy white cardboard or thin wood, sharp knife or fret saw, crinkled paper, water color paints, a tiny portion of a quill, a tiny roll of tin or lead foil, small fine pins or wire, a small piece of narrow ribbon, a little writing paper, mucilage, string, scissors, pliers. ”

“ When this is dry, make a large loop of string and put it through the round hole of the card; and hold the ends of the loop one in each hand. Now if you turn the string at one end as if you were turning a skipping rope, and then suddenly [pg 5] pull it tight, your card will revolve very rapidly, and you will find that instead of a coloured card you have what appears to be a light grey one. This is really a little piece of science, for it shows that the white light about us is really made up of the different colours of the rainbow (Fig. 4) . ”

“ When the mechanical card is placed in the box, it should be thus folded back, and kept in position by a little bit of thin wire, half an inch long, and bent into a miniature staple or clip, which, slipped over the end of the tail-piece and the adjoining edge of tin, will effectually hold the flap back, and yet may be got rid of in an instant, when the forefinger is ready to take its place. You must take care so to place the card in the box as to be face uppermost when the box is opened, as the audience must not, of course, see the back. ”

“ Detection of a Drawn Card by Color. Previously separate the pack into two parts, placing all the red cards in one pile, and all the black cards in the other. One of these packs you conceal in your pocket. You let any person draw a card from the other pack, and while he is examining the card, substitute the pack in your pocket for the one you hold in your hand. Let him place his card in the pack you have taken from your pocket, and shuffle as much as you please. You will at once recognize the card he has drawn by the difference of color. ”

“ Young girls use smaller cards than older ladies. A gentleman's card is long and narrow, from 2-7/8 to 3-1/4; inches long, and from 1-1/4 to 1-5/8 inches high. All visiting cards are engraved on white unglazed bristol board, which may be of medium thickness or thin, as one fancies. A few years ago there was a fad for cards as thin as writing paper, but one seldom sees them in America now. The advantage of a thin card is that a greater quantity may be carried easily. ”

“ Pulp boards are frequently looked upon as soft and flexible, and many may be so described, but for card index work a stiff snappy card, thin in substance, is required, and as pasteboards and other cards made up of layers tend to split when subjected to much use, pulp boards are essential for that class of work. The boards which most closely resemble ivory boards in appearance will be found the most suitable for system use. ”