Boxes; Children's literature; Handicraft; Paper work; Toys
First, find a box such as correspondence cards come in from the
stationery store. Take its high cover off, and cut from the lower part
of the box almost all of the deep inner rim, leaving only about a
half-inch of it all around. Put the cover back over this, and glue the
two parts of the box together. The box is to be the gipsy wagon now. A
door will need to be cut at one end of the box, and windows will need to
be made on the sides of the box rim.
Turn the box over so that its base becomes the top of your wagon. Make
the outline of a door with pencil on one end of the box. To make it,
mark off an upright oblong space an inch wide and two inches and a half
high. Have its base come at the very edge of box rim. (To cut door, see
Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut one side line from the base of the box
up to the top line, and cut along the top line of the upright figure you
have drawn. Bend the cardboard outward to make a little door. See, it
will open or close as you bend it.
Next, make the windows on the sides of the cart. You may make these with
or without shutters. If you make them without shutters, you will only
need to cut two one-inch squares in each side of your box. Each should
be evenly distant from a corner. (To cut plain windows, see Diagram One,
_A_, page 166.)
If, however, you wish to have shutters on the windows of your wagon, cut
these squares at top and base. Then cut a line through each center,
vertically, from top to base. This gives you the shutters. Press them
back against the outside of the cart. (For making blinds, see Diagram
One, _B_, page 166.)
Window-shutters and door may be painted. Dry them while you make wheels
for the cart. Color them with water-color paints. Make them green or
red.
The wheels are circles cut from stiff cardboard. Find your compass to
help draw them round. If you have no compass, use the outline of a small
round saucer about two inches and a half in diameter to guide you in
drawing the four wheels in outline. Draw a hub and spokes on each, if
you like.
When you have drawn them, cut each out, and press through the axle of
each one a round-headed paper-fastener. Bend its prongs to either side
after you have pressed the wheel into place on the cart. The wheels may
be glued, if you have no paper-fasteners to use for making axles.
Your cart will need a seat for the driver. This is made from the lower
half of a small, narrow box about two inches in length. Cut off the
short end rims, and glue one long rim to your wagon in front, so that it
makes the dashboard and floor of the front of the cart under the seat.
Paste a small pill-box on this to make the seat itself.
At the rear of your cart, you may make some steps by folding a strip of
box rim twice and fastening it under the door with mucilage.
Shafts for the cart are two narrow strips of cardboard pasted to the
forward part of the wagon.
There! The gipsy cart is finished. Penny dolls or tumble toys will be
the gipsies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account