Cardboard Box Moose Head Wall Hanging

Intro: Cardboard Box Moose Head Wall Hanging

OK, so this is my first instructable, so be gentle!  What to do with an old cardboard box?  Easy, make a moose head with it...  I'll show you how.

Takes about 2-3 hours.

STEP 1: You Will Need

There is a good chance you already have all the bits and pieces necessary already (making this pretty much FREE to make!).  Here's a list of what you'll need:

- Large cardboard box
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Stanley knife (or box cutter)
- Ruler
- Cutting mat
- Sellotape
- Hot glue gun
- Computer & projector (or an A4/A3 printer instead)
- Template ZIP file (Cardboard-Moose-Head-Template.zip) attached

STEP 2: Projecting or Printing the Moose Template

I used my projector for this next step as it allowed me to scale up the moose to the size of the box I had, but you can use your printer if you use Poster Printing to span multiple pages (especially in Corel Draw or Illustrator in the printing preferences). 

- Cut up the box into flat pieces
- Project the template files onto a wall and trace around them with a pencil
- If printing, use masking tape to loosely stick the designs over the cardboard for cutting out the design

NOTE: if printing, make sure you keep the scaling the same size so that all the pieces are the right proportionate size.  If projecting, make sure 'Actual Size' is selected in your image viewer, for the same reasons.

STEP 3: Cut Out the Pieces

Use a new blade to carefully cut-out the pieces.  This is the most time consuming part.  Make sure you keep the blade at 90 degrees to the design to get a nice clean edge.

STEP 4: Cut Out the Fitting Slots

For this step cut out the widths for the fitting slots according to the width of your cardboard box.  The card I was using for this one was double thickness, but yours may be much narrower, so cut accordingly. 

The template files use conservative estimates for the fitting slots, so you will have to offer up the pieces individually to get exactly the right fit for your size cardboard.  It takes a bit of trial and error, but persist because this looks great when it's finished.

STEP 5: Slot & Glue Together

Next, start at the nose end and slide in the first pieces to the middle head piece (but do the nose last). As you slot in each piece use the hot glue gun on the back only to fix in place (see last two images from this step).

Once you've glued all the pieces to the central main head piece, slot in the main head side pieces x2.  Glue each piece with a bit of glue gun glue from the back.

STEP 6: Mounting to the Baseplate & Make a Hanging Bracket

Once you've slotted and glued the Moose pieces together you'll need to slot it into the rear mounting shield.  Same procedure as before, slot together and glue from behind.

Cut out a chevron shape from some spare card, wide enough to span the width of your three main head pieces that fit into the rear shield.  Wrap with a bit of sellotape to reinforce it for hanging.

Cut out small pieces from the main head pieces (image 3 of this step), having marked out where they need to go with the chevron you just cut out.

Hot glue gun the chevron in place and voila, one cardboard box moose!

STEP 7: Your Finished Cardboard Box Moose

Lastly, hang on the wall and enjoy!

Thanks for reading and I hope you make one for yourself :) 

Please post up any that you make...

Comments

[beccampearson]

I've never made anything out of cardboard before. It looks like you used 2-ply cardboard? Would 2-ply be better than 1-ply or would the 1-ply also work fine for this project?

[Tricia3162]

Does the template represent the actual size of the moose head? I need to make one as a play prop...

[alecdisco]

Incredible that you did this without a cnc

[N36]

err no it doesn't. it contains outline images of a moose head.

[andrewmkey]

How do I print this on a normal printer with 8-1/2" x 11" paper? I'm having trouble with file #3, it seems so small compared to the others. What basic program can I use to scale them all? Thank you! @N36

[N36]

Hi there, I have used Corel Draw in the past for multi-page borderless printing but you should also be able to do it in Illustrator I imagine. In Corel in the print page dialogue box you have the option to enlarge over as many A4/A3 pages as you want and it will automatically calculate the print size. You just have to trim the blank borders and all the pages match up perfectly. Hope that helps...

[TitoCuba]

Les quedo muy bien ya intentare y veremos como me sale .

Hay algun situio para mas de estos modelos?

[N36]

Hola, no hay planes para nuevos modelos aún, pero podría hacerlo en algún momento.

[kithub]

We love it! Such a great project over the holidays when lots of boxes are available.

[hvergilas jr.]

do you have this file in clipart or vectors?

[N36]

only in bitmap gif's. But I could make them into vectors if needed.

[hvergilas jr.]

yes please i would really need this in vectors, if possible.

[ladyluck3328cat]

hey thank u N36 here is my black foamcore moose head all done

[N36]

hey ladyluck that looks really great! the foam core looks very smart too, really loving it. I think I'll have to have an experiment with that as well :) thanks again for posting up your photo. Really nice to see what others can do with it.

[ladyluck3328cat]

sorry for the multiple pics i tried deletin them wouldnt let me lol

[ladyluck3328cat]

hey there this is great thank u soo much i did mine out of foam core much easier than cardboard and less messy but i absolutely love these hangings , here r mine i did 2 buck and a doe making the moose one next , im turning my bedroom into a hunting lodge theme so anymore animal heads u make i would love to get too once again thankxx :):)

[N36]

Those are awesome! Thanks so much for posting them :) They look so much better than real dead ones and look great in your lodge. The moose should look pretty great too I reckon. Please post an image when you get round to it!

[yoannaboa]

I cant view the file on my phone does it work on a computer?

[N36]

Yea should work fine on computer. It should also work on phones as the attached is just .gif image files...

[marcellahella]

I like it a lot,it look so cool!
(So much better than kill one to behead it)
I will love to see a rhino too : )