Well hello there! Hera here, and I'm going to show you how to make these cool cuboctahedron models that you can use for loads of things. This one is a bit more in-depth than my last nerdy craft, and if you aren't good with sharp things, you'll need some help/adult supervision yada yada yada. It's been a while since my last one, but hey, better late than never! Let's get on with it, shall we?
Materials
a cereal box
tacky glue
this cuboctahedron print-out
scissors/exacto knife
hot glue gun
paint (acrylic is good)
paper towels
cup of water
paintbrush
patience
tacky glue
this cuboctahedron print-out
scissors/exacto knife
hot glue gun
paint (acrylic is good)
paper towels
cup of water
paintbrush
patience
Procedure
1. Print out the cuboctahedron template linked above.
2. Glue the template onto a cereal box. with tacky glue.
2. Glue the template onto a cereal box. with tacky glue.
3. Wait for the glue to dry, then cut out the cereal box using the template as a guide. This is not as easy as it sounds, and where patience comes in!
4. Now make valley folds (as shown below) along the fold lines on the template. You can use the blade of a scissor, pressed up against the fold line like it's a throat, so you can fold the cardboard over the blade more easily. Make sure you also fold the little tabs too-- they're important!
5. Alright, the boring, tedious stuff is out of the way. Now, sort of assemble the cuboctahedron until it resembles this shape:
6. Now, see one of those square faces on the model? Cut that out. Yep. You won't be using it. I dunno. Feed it to your dog or something. 7. Now hold the model in shape as you hot glue the tabs BEHIND the triangles and squares. Press together the tab and triangle/square for a few seconds to let the hot glue dry. (This was a confusing step to explain... Let me know if you need me to explain anything further, k?) 8. Once that's done, you'll notices about two or three tabs sticking out in the open square that you cut out. Those were meant to go behind the square, but since there is no square, you can go ahead and cut that out. TADA! You have your basic shape. 9. Now comes the fun part-- painting! :D Set up your painting materials (cup of water for rinsing, paper towels for cleanup and surface protection, etc. etc.) along with paint in the colors you want and a paintbrush. Go wild! Do whatever design you want. Or if you wanted to do a solid pattern, sure! Or if you wanted to leave the cardboard as it is, that's fine with me! You do you. From this point onwards, do what you want. I went with this really ratchet-looking triangle pattern, but like I said, it was ratchet. XD |
So halfway through I switched to this snazzy marbled look, and I think it looked a lot better. So I just painted over the ratchet triangles. (I think I'll make a tutorial on how to do this marble thing!) Remember to let it dry! :) Oh, what are you supposed to do in that time? Play Pokemon GO, like the rest of the world! .-. XD
And that is it! You have yourself an awesome cuboctahedron. What can you do with it? Lots!
You could place it upside-down on your desk and have some very tumblr-esque decor...
You could place it upside-down on your desk and have some very tumblr-esque decor...
You could use it to hold pens and pencils, as my sister did here...
You could also (and I think this is the coolest) use it as a tea light holder! (It's made out of paper and cardboard... it wouldn't make the best real candle holder... O_o)
Alrighty guys, I hope you enjoyed that nerdy craft. What other things could you use this cuboctahedron for? Let me know! And if you guys have any other suggestions for more nerdy crafts, I'd love to hear them. Thank y'all so much for reading, and I'll see you all next time. Bye!
-H