Introduction: SERIAL PLANE CORRUGATED CARDBOARD GAZELLE SCULPTURE

By
About: I always knew having a mad wizard design our water distribution plant was a bad idea Visit my instagram for more art! @depravedcave

For this project, I decided to make a serial plane gazelle sculpture.

The general process can be adapted to make any subject you desire.

:)

Supplies

Paper

Pencil

Ruler

Corrugated Cardboard

Utility Knife

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue Sticks

Water

Sandpaper 220 Grit (optional)

Step 1: CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER!

Initially sketch out the gazelle, then draw what you want the sculpture to look like from the top and side views.

Drawing the top, side, and front views or an orthographic projection is how you can represent a three-dimensional object on a two-dimensional surface like paper.

Step 2: MAKE YOUR PATTERN

Take the orthographic projections of your gazelle from the first step and turn them into a pattern.

For the top:

Divide the top view you chose in half and draw horizontal lines to represent each plane.

Imagine your gazelle drawing as a sliced loaf of bread. Each horizontal line or plane represents an individual slice.

The number of horizontal lines or slices will be how many stencils you need to make your gazelle come to life.

Draw vertical lines in between planes to mark where you would like to place spacers.

When planning the size of your sculpture, keep in mind that each plane and spacer will be the same thickness as your cardboard.

For the side:

Make the side view into a contour drawing with the number shapes equal to amount of horizontal lines (slices) that you made for the top view. These contour lines will each become a different stencil in your gazelle pattern.

Take the side view you drew and cut it out, then trace it onto another piece of paper changing the outline to fit the next smallest shape from your contour drawing. Repeat this step until all of your plane stencils are cut.

To use your pattern:

Once you have the stencils for all of your planes trace each of them onto the cardboard twice.

Cut out all the pieces with your utility knife.

Spacers will be cut from the leftover cardboard, you need at least one spacer between each plane. More spacers means more structural integrity.

The shape of spacers is not very important because they are not easily visible once you assemble the gazelle. Spacers should be relatively small to help conceal them.

Step 3: THE HORNS

For the horns, we are using a different technique where we score and fold the cardboard then remove specific layers of cardboard from each section.

You can make this part directly on the cardboard or make a paper pattern first.

The height and width of the sections in this pattern can be adjusted to make any size horn you like.

To create a pattern for the horn, use your ruler and pencil to draw an isosceles triangle.

You will divide it into six sections with the inner four having the same width. The outer two sections are equal width to each other but should be smaller than the inner four.


Corrugated cardboard has three layers to it. The two outer faces sandwich a wavy layer in between.

Draw your pattern onto the cardboard so that the corrugation is perpendicular to the height of your triangle.

On the dotted lines score the cardboard by partially cutting through the top and middle layers.

These are the lines that you will fold the horns to make them shaped like a pyramid or a cone.

Fully cut through the exterior line of the triangle to make one horn.

You can trace the first horn to make a second one that is the same size.

To give the horns a similar appearance to the ridged horn of a gazelle you are going to remove the top layer of cardboard from the inner four sections. To do this dampen the top layer of cardboard by quickly running it underwater in the sink.

After you wet the entire top layer carefully peel back the top layer of cardboard to expose the wavy pattern or corrugation. Be very gentle during this step as it is easy to accidentally remove the corrugated layer if you peel the top layer too forcefully.

You will be removing both the top and the middle wavy layers from the outer two sections of the horn, leaving only the bottom.

Repeat these steps for the other horn, then let both of them fully dry before moving on.

The strip drawn in the diagram will wrap around the horn and hide the glue visible after attaching the horns to the skull.

Step 4: ASSEMBLY

Plug the hot glue gun in and once it is ready you can start putting together your creation.

Glue the planes of your skull together in order with a spacer between each layer.

The spacers can be cut from the cardboard scraps.

Fold the horns so that they form a four-sided pyramid with a completely wavy exterior. The two outer sections in your pattern will be folded and glued to each other inside the horns.

Then attach each horn to the proper spot on your skull and add a band around the base of your horn to hide the evidence of your glue-up.

Once all the glue has set you can remove any unsightly glue strings to give it a more finished appearance.

If your cardboard has rough edges you can use some 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out.

Voila!

You have completed a serial plane gazelle sculpture.

:)