Soft Box - easy and cheap

I wanted to make a cheap soft box for the studio lights laying around in my room.
In my garage i found a big roll of tracing paper.
So here is how i made my softbox.

Materials:
- 50x50 cm Piece of translucent paper (any kind will do)
- 2m Wire (I used electrical wire)
- Wire cutter
- scissors
- tape

Step 1 Making the frame

Bend a piece of wire in a rectangle.
Keep in mind that it must fit around the end of the "flaps", so you can attach and detach them.
Then bend 2 wings and secure them onto the rectangle.
Connect the 2 wings with 2 wires to make an outer rectangle.

Look at the pictures for reference.

Comments

[ddjack59]

You could also use Parchment paper, the kind used for lining baking sheets for cooking. It has a much higher temperature tolerance.

[sQuit2]

That's a very good idea. But they are mostly brown coloured. Although i know they are sometimes white.

[andromeda3]

What kind of lamp is that? Wattage? cost?

[sQuit2]

I bought it at a local DIY market in Holland where I live. It's a studio-spot for amateur use and comes with a normal lamp socket. The light I used is a ultra-bright LED spot with 300 lumen and 3 watt (Philips). The lamp casing costs around €60, that's about 80$ and the light itself €30 that's about $40 (i used the current rate of exchange).

Take a look at your own local DIY store, home depot or IKEA and maybe you will find something similar.

[daresquid]

As the first comment notes, parchment paper makes for a good diffuser. Here in the US, a roll of Reynolds Parchment Paper can be gotten pretty easily and it is white-off white. Another reason to use it irregardless of its heat resistance is its diffusion capabilities. I have been testing a number of materials for best diffusion with the most light passed through and parchment paper is at the top. One problem with diffusers is the loss of effective light output, after all, a low budget strobist is probably using a less-than-pro flash and needs every bit of light from it.