Part 8

The Morris chair is made like any other chair. (See Diagram Six, _C_, page 177, for cutting a chair from a box.) It has two bent box rims glued to each side to make the arm rests, and the cardboard is cut rounding from the front rim of the box in cutting its legs.

I made a very cute little cupboard for my doll-house dining-room. It was easily made. You can make one out of any shallow box that is like a spool box, by cutting out all of its front rim excepting a narrow margin left all the way around its front cover. I cut some strips of cardboard and fitted them across the inside of this box and glued them to make shelves. Lace-paper made the shelf-paper. Metal corks from bottles and cold-cream tubes made mugs and silver-ware. Plates for the dining-room were circles cut from cardboard.

A sideboard may be made from half of a letter-paper box, cutting this in half lengthwise. Then cut this half the box as if you were making a high bench. Do not cut far up in the box rim to make the legs. Cut them curving at the front. Outline a drawer and cupboard doors upon the front, and paste a plate-rack at back. It is the cover of a narrow box glued behind the buffet.

Of all my doll-house furniture, I like the kitchen best. It looks so homelike. If I were a little doll, I know I should love to go into that kitchen and make candy on the stove. It would be such fun!

The stove is made from an oblong candy box cut like a bench. At two sides of its front, I cut oven doors and put round-headed paper-fasteners through them to make knobs. The prongs of each paper-fastener, bent, make latch for oven doors. At the back of each oven door, right inside the box, I pasted a small box and made a real little oven. I could put dishes in it!

The boiler in the kitchen is the kind of round tin they use to pack blue-print paper in. I stood mine on a spool after I washed the printed paper off from it. You can use an old baking-powder tin, if you have no blue-print paper box.

You can see how the kitchen sink is made—merely a box cover placed over the end of a deeper box. At the back of the box paste an upright piece of cardboard. The faucets are made from the two ends of a kid hair-curler pressed through the cardboard downward.

The kitchen table is the lower half of a correspondence-card box. It is cut as if it were a bench with long legs. (For cutting the bench, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.)

You will have a very good time playing in your doll-house, if you make one. You can make a four-roomed house from four large bandboxes placed on their sides. Put two upon the floor and glue the other two to their tops. Of course, you will not need to use the covers of the boxes. Each bandbox will make a room.

You can use strips of wall-paper for carpets and rugs. You can cut windows in the bandboxes. When you have furnished the doll-house, it will be quite like a real little home.

I painted my furniture with ink. If you paint yours, be careful to put newspapers down under your work, and be very, very careful to use your brush as dry as you can. In this way your work will be evenly colored. Let the furniture dry thoroughly before you attempt to play with it. If you like, you may paint it with water-color paints.

Little boxes make such fun! I can use _each_ tiny one! I have made a dollies’ bed, And a mantel, painted red! Bureaus, chairs,—a table, too! Oh, I have some work to do! Oh, I think that it is gay, Making furniture this way!

HOW TO MAKE THE BOXCRAFT GAME, “RINGFLING”

=Material Required to Make “Ringfling”=: the deep lower half of a box over seven inches square, four long pencils, and about twelve square inches of cardboard.

Ringfling is a jolly game. I am sure you will enjoy playing it. As many children as can play happily together may play the game. The first rule of the game is, “The more, the merrier!”

It takes but a moment to collect materials with which to play the game. The game itself may be made in about ten minutes—or less.

Take the deep lower half of some large square box and draw from corner to corner across its top. (See figure in Diagram Eleven, _A_, page 185.) Do this with heavy pencil lines.

Number each section of the board but one, using the numerals, 1, 2, 3 (one numeral each). Leave one section blank.

Cut a ring from cardboard, using a compass or saucer to guide you in drawing it first. Make it about three inches in diameter. (See Diagram Eleven, _B_, page 185, for cutting ring.) Make a smaller ring just like this larger one, and cut it in the very same way.

Take your pencils. Press the point of one into each section of the game-board at its center near the numeral you have drawn. Press the points of the pencils down first, and be careful to keep each hole small, so that the pencil will not slip too far down in it. The tops of all pencils should be of an even height, as you see them in the picture.

Here are the rules of the game:

Players play in turn.

Players count out to see who will begin the game and who will follow.

Each play consists of a turn to throw the large ring and the small ring.

The object of play is to have the ring tossed fall so that it circles about a pencil.

When a ring circles a pencil, it gives the player the count of the number that is upon that section. The small circle doubles the count.

Twelve counts win the game. The first to obtain this wins. You may make it eighteen—to make a longer game.

The game is played in rounds. To avoid dispute, it is best to keep the score of all players with pencil and paper.

Each player must stand five ruler lengths from the game when he flings the circles.

When I am playing little games, I like to do what’s right; And when I do not win the game, I try to be polite!

THE GAME OF “SHOOT THE CHUTES”

=Material Required to Make the Game of “Shoot the Chutes”=: a long box and its cover, and one high box without a cover—some spools.

This little boxcraft game may be played by two players. It is an easy game to make, as you can see by looking at the picture. It is made of two parts of one long box, with the lower half of another that is higher. It is played with spools.

To make the game, first cut the lower half of your long box as you see it cut in the picture. Make two openings in its rim, each wide enough to let a spool roll through it. Stand this part of the box upon the floor as you see it placed in the picture.

Now, you are ready to make the chutes. Cut the cover’s rim—the rim of the long box—at each corner, and press the cardboard out at each end.

Rest this part of the long box in a slanting position against your high box.

Paint four spools. Make two red and two blue. Two of the same color belong to each player.

The game is to try to get your two spools into the box. Every time you get a spool in by rolling it down the chutes, it counts you one count.

Players play in turn, one spool at a time. The game is played in rounds. The first player to reach the score of seven wins.

I made this little game myself, All on a rainy day! It made some jolly fun for me, And passed the time away.

THE BOXCRAFT GAME, “ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU”

=Material Required to Make “One-Two-I-Catch-You”=: a square box cover and two buttons, one dark and one light. The counter is a round pill-box. (A square pill-box will do as well.)

This boxcraft game of “One-Two-I-Catch-You” is like a game of tag. It is a tag game on a game-board. As it is not so noisy a game, you can play it in the house.

To make the board to play on, take your pencil and your ruler. Rule a line from corner to corner across the inside of the box cover. Then, rule a line that will cross the center of the box, and another that crosses the center from the other side. This makes the triangular divisions of the board. Paint the triangles, alternating, black or blue. Leave the ones between, white. (See Diagram Twelve, page 186.)

Find your buttons now. Two players are to play this game. You will need a pill-box for a counter. Glue its cover on tight, and put a number _one_ on its top and a number _two_ on its base.

Play in turn, and toss the counter to see how far you can move. When the counter falls, take the number that is on its top and move as many triangles in either direction as the counter indicates.

Each player takes a different colored button to begin the game. Each button is placed in an opposite corner of the board. Each player must try to catch the other player by getting onto his triangle. The first to catch the other player three times is winner.

Throw the counter, Happily, Who is winner, Let us see!

Button here And button there, I will catch you! Just take care!

THE FUNNY GAME OF “MISTER BOX”

=Material Required to Make the Funny Game of “Mister Box”=: one large box with a cover—one similar to a shoe-box—two or three spools.

Allow me to introduce to you my friend Mister Box. He is funny and he is jolly. He likes to catch spools in his mouth, if you will be so kind as to throw them in.

Mister Box is a game. You can make a game like him. I will tell you how. You will need an empty box about the size of a shoe-box. It should have a cover.

Two or three players may play the game. Each will need an empty spool to play the game with. Each player may color his spool a different color. One may be blue; one may be red; and the third, if there are three players, may be green.

Now, to make Mister Box. Place your box on end and glue the cover tight. Next, take your pencil and draw a big face on the back of the box. Make the mouth large and round. Cut out the cardboard inside the mouth to make a big round hole about four inches wide. You can color Mister Box with your crayons, if you like. His hair should be brown, and his eyes too.

Now, to play the game, every player must stand, in turn, in the same place on the carpet or floor rug, four feet from the box. Measure four ruler lengths to get this. Each must try to get his spool into Mister Box. Toss the spool. No player may touch his spool till all have finished playing the round. The first one to get his spool into Mister Box six times wins.

When I win a game at play, This is what I always say: “You will win another day!”

If I do not win to-day, This is what I hope I’ll say: “I have had a splendid play!”

HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC BOX

=Material Required to Make a Magic Box=: two small oblong boxes with covers that slide over an inner drawer. Both boxes must be about an inch and a half long. Both must be duplicates of each other. About two yards of light twine are needed.

The magic box is truly a wonderful one. It will obey every command you give it—yes, it will! There is a secret that you will have to learn, but when you know this secret the little box will _have_ to do just as you bid it.

The magic box is on a string. As it descends, you cry, “Halt!” The box stops at once. “Go on!” you cry. The box continues down the string. “Faster, faster!” The box fairly flies in its haste to get down to the floor! Wonderful! Wonderful!

Now, let me tell you how to do it. (It is a trick, of course!)

Find a small stick, round and smooth like a half of a toothpick.

Take the sliding cover from one of your boxes, and fit inside the drawer, across the center of it, the piece of wood so that there is space under it and above it.

Next, make a small hole at each end of the drawer of your box, and thread some string through both holes, letting the string pass _under_ the stick of wood in the drawer. (See Diagram Thirteen, _A_, page 187.)

Place the sliding cover on the box and let the string pass through it at both ends. (See Diagram Thirteen, _B_.)

The SECRET of your magic box is the piece of wood in the drawer. Tell nobody about this. When you hold one end of the string in your right hand, place the toe of your shoe on the floor over the other end and keep the string taut. Then, loosen your hold slightly, and carefully bring the box upon the string up as far as your hand.

When you loosen the hold upon the string to make it less tight, you will notice that the box slides rapidly down the string; when you hold the string absolutely taut, the box remains firmly in one place. By practising, you will find just how much to loosen your hold on the string in order to make the box do as you wish.

Anyone who sees the box performing so wonderfully will not readily guess the secret of its magic. Here the second box, that is a duplicate of the first, comes into the play. Arrange this second box as if it were the trick box—except for the stick through the drawer. When your friends ask to examine the magic box, give them the second one. Keep both in your pocket. In putting the trick box into your pocket, slide its drawer a little, so that you can easily distinguish between the two boxes by feeling of them. When you give the duplicate, nobody will suspect that it is not the real box, if you manage cleverly.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” they say. “What a MAGIC BOX you have!”

I made a magic trick box! Oh, you may make one, too, But do not tell the secret That I am telling you!

The little box will mind you, Do everything you say! It is a magic trick box— A treasury of play.

=Diagram One.= Cut the cardboard sides of your box as the heavy black lines indicate. Fold outward upon the dotted lines.

_A._ A plain window without blinds or awning. Cut the cardboard out on all four sides.

_B._ Window with blinds. Cut the top line, the center line, and the base. Fold outward on the dotted lines.

_C._ Window with awning. Cut side lines and base. Bend cardboard outward and upward to make the awning over the window.

=Diagram Two.= Cut the cardboard of your box sides as the heavy black lines indicate. Fold outward where there are dotted lines.

_A._ Single door. Cut at top and side (if need be, at the base also). Fold the cardboard outward to make a door.

_B._ Double door. Cut the square at top and down its center. (If need be, cut the base of the square also.) Fold both sections outward.

_C._ Door with window in it. Cut out a square from the single door. Cut the door at top and side. Fold it outward.

=Diagram Three.= This shows the shape of the cardboard pieces that are used to form side walls for a sloping roof; also the box-cover roof placed in position, and the hole for a chimney.

_A._ Side walls of cardboard, glued to box ends.

_AA._ Box cover placed on side walls. Square cut out so that a box tower or chimney may be inserted through its opening.

=Diagram Three.= Triangular cardboard pieces are cut and pasted to the upper part of a box to hold a roof made from two interlapped box covers.

_B._ Gable roof made from two box covers.

_BB._ Triangular cardboard pieces cut to fit the ends of a box and hold a gable roof.

=Diagram Three.= Gable roof. This is a piece of cardboard cut oblong and folded through its center, lengthwise, to make a slanting roof. A deep box may be cut down to hold this roof and make a gabled building. Cut where heavy black lines indicate.

_C._ Roof cut from a piece of plain cardboard or corrugated cardboard.

_CC._ Box cut down to make the low sides and high-pointed gable ends of a small building.

=Diagram Three.= Roofs.

_D._ Round-pointed roof cut from cardboard. Lap edges _x_ to _x_. This makes a tent also. The Indian Wigwam is made this way.

_E._ This is a wide box cover folded through its center, rim cut up to the top on each long side. Bent, it makes a tent or tent-shaped roof. This is like the kennel roof.

=Diagram Three.= Cut Where the heavy black lines indicate.

_F._ Ramparts are cut from the rim of a box cover.

_G._ A porch roof may be made by taking the cover of any shallow box and pasting it over the doorway of your building. The porch pillars are long pencils run through holes cut in each forward corner of the box cover.

=Diagram Four.= By cutting the ends or sides of boxes, tunnels or bridges may be made. Cut where the heavy black line indicates.

_A._ The bridge is made by cutting a semicircle from the long sides of an inverted box. The box cover, turned upward, forms the bridge railing. At each end, cut the corners. A cardboard strip is pasted to each end rim to complete the bridge roadway.

_B._ The tunnel is made by cutting a circular opening in the two ends of a deep box which has been inverted.

=Diagram Five.= Take a square piece of paper. Fold it through its center once. Fold the two halves to make quarters. Draw the outline _Z_ on the piece of paper folded into quarters, and cut this as is indicated by the heavy black line. This gives _ZZ_, the pattern for the windmill sails, which are cut from it in cardboard.

=Diagram Six.= Cut your box when it is inverted where the heavy black lines show.

_A._ A bench form is made by cutting to right and left of each corner of the lower half of an inverted box. Remove cardboard evenly from between these cuttings to make legs of the bench.

_AA._ This is the cover of a box from which long side rims are cut. It is glued to the bench form to make head and foot of a bed.

=Diagram Six=, _B_. To make the bench with high back, use the lower half of a box, inverted. Cut the rim where the heavy black lines are shown. Cut front legs from the box rim on one long side. Turn up the other long rim of the box to add to the height of the back. Fold upward on the dotted line running lengthwise through the middle of the box.

=Diagram Six=, _C_. To make the chair, turn the lower half or cover of your box so that it stands upon its rims. Cut where the heavy black lines are shown in the diagram. Fold the back of the chair upward where the dotted line is indicated.

=Diagram Six.= Tables are made from deep boxes by inverting the lower half of the box and cutting legs in the rim as is shown by the heavy black lines. Small boxes, square or round, placed upon upright spools will form tables, stools, stands.

_D._ A table cut from a correspondence-card box. Cut where the heavy black lines are shown in the diagram.

_DD._ A round table made with a spool and a box glued to its top.

=Diagram Six.= Cut where the heavy black lines are indicated. Glue at _y_.

_E._ A school desk is made by standing the lower half of a small oblong box upon one of its long rims. Cut in the box rim where you see a heavy black line in the diagram. A piece of box rim is fitted below the top of the desk inside the box to make a shelf.

_F._ Glue a narrow box across a larger box that is placed upon one of its long sides at _yy_ to make a piano with keyboard.

=Diagram Six=, _G_. Stand any box you may have upright on one end or on one of its long rims. Cut from the front or back of the box an opening as shown by the heavy black line in the diagram.

=Diagram Seven.= The pergola is made from an inverted shoe-box. The lower half of the box is used. Cut the bottom from the box, leaving a narrow rim around the bottom. Cut the ends as shown in the diagram by the heavy black lines. Mark off pillars upon the long sides of your box with pencil, and cut these as shown by the heavy black lines of the diagram. Two cardboard strips are glued lengthwise at the top over the lengthwise edges left. Strips of cardboard are crossed over the open top which was the bottom of the box.

=Diagram Eight.= Cut the cardboard box sides as indicated by the heavy black line in the diagram. Zoo cages are cut on each side. Circus cages are cut top and bottom of the box, and the box is then placed upon one long rim to have wheels added to it. The wheels for circus cages are cardboard disks.

=Diagram Nine.= The theater is made from a deep square box placed to stand upon its rims, upon its cover. The opening _A_ is cut upon one side of the box and bent inward where the dotted line is shown. This is the stage. _B_ is the stage opening through which the dolls are let down by black cord to walk upon the stage and act. Cut an opening like this shown in the diagram by the heavy black line. _C_ shows the slit back of the stage opening. Through this, postal-card scenery is let down upon the stage.

=Diagram Ten.=