I’ve been wanting to try the cardboard lace technique for a long time, and while working on a piece of furniture from cardboard, I had a lot of leftovers. So I took a break from the big project and sat down to try. And it turned out pretty cool. Here are two examples of my first attempts at the technique: a candle/pen holder and a mirror frame.
If you want to learn more, check out my online courses on Skillshare
Or the course on udemy:
How to make unique furniture by yourself with cardboard
Simple DIY project – Learn how to make real furniture that you will be proud of, using only cardboard and glue.
No power tools are needed.
The idea is simple – cut thin strips of cardboard of equal width (say 1cm), preferably from cardboard that has 2-3 layers, but you can cut from different types of cardboard and thus get different patterns.
When you look at this thin strip from the side, you see the waves inside the cardboard and the interesting shapes that are created between them, which is why this technique is called cardboard lace, or in the French original: dentelle de carton. It has a very interesting texture and you can also use the transparency of the lace for lighting fixtures.
So I started with a small light fixture. an electric candle holder. electric, not a real candle with flame!
Cardboard lace holder (for electric candle or pens)
I used a glass to get the shape. I glued the stripes to each other around the glass (I tried very hard not to glue them directly to the glass itself). To create an interesting pattern I glued the stripes alternately – wide stripes, and narrow stripes when seen from the side.
It is important to note that the candle I used is not a candle with real fire but an electric candle. I bought a pack of six at IKEA.
The candle flickers like a real candle flame, and it also has a nice trick – it automatically turns off after 6 hours, and lights up again the next day at the same time. A nice idea for a night light for a child’s room. The only problem is that it has a very weak light, so its effect is only impressive in a room with low lighting.
Of course, you can apply this technique to larger Lighting Fixtures too.
Cardboard lace mirror frame
I don’t have any pictures of the process because it was quite spontaneous, I was very tickled to start trying and I didn’t think about a future post.
I glued the mirror on a piece of rectangular cardboard wider than the mirror by a few centimeters.
I glued a strip of cardboard around the edges for an outer wall, and I glued a strip around the mirror that will be the inner wall.
Between these two walls, I tried different patterns of the lace arrangement. After I arrived at an arrangement that I liked, I glued each one in place with PVA glue. In this case, I didn’t want to use hot glue because hot glue has a thickness and I didn’t want little hills to form, and I didn’t want the holes of the lace to be blocked.
Finally, I glued two rose beads that I had.
The blue color of the inner frame is because I used cardboard with a blue print on one side.
The fun is trying different examples of arranging the cardboard pieces and combining them in different ways – symmetrical or asymmetrical, straight lines or circular, etc.