these from covers of two boxes three inches long. (For cutting benches,
see Diagram Three, _AA_, page 176.) With pencil or pin-point mark a dot
at the center of each short end rim of the covers, and cut through each
rim thus marked till you have reached the top of the cover. Half of each
division so made will be the high back of the bench. Half will form the
seat and legs. Cut legs in the rim of one end. Leave the corners at the
front of the bench and remove the cardboard that is between them, making
your cutting to the right and left of each front corner. Then cut the
rear legs in both side rims. Bend the other half of each box upward.
This is to be the high back. Cut off the little pieces of cardboard that
are left on the narrow end rims. Bend what is left of the cover’s rim
upward to make the rest of the high back for each bench. Color the
benches black or brown.
Toot-too! Don’t you hear the whistle of the toy train? The baggage, that
is made up of boxes, is waiting on the station platform, and the little
dolls are ready to start on their travels.
Miss Doll is waiting on the station platform. She has just purchased her
return ticket to Boxtown.
Boxtown is the next stop. Everybody goes there on Circus Day—Mr. Doll,
Mr. Mulligan, Mr. Swartzenheimer, Polly Ann, Susan Smith, _all_ the
Noahs! The station platform is crowded!
When all the sky is dark with storm,
Then with my train I play.
I build a Boxville Station,
And I stay indoors all day.
It is always pleasant weather
When you’re happy as can be;
And when I’m playing Boxville,
There’s no storm that _I_ can see!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. R. R. FREIGHT STATION AND SHOE-BOX TUNNEL
=Material Required to Make a Boxville Freight Station=: one shoe-box
cover, one shallow cover of a box about eight or nine inches long and
seven or eight inches wide, and the lower half of a deep box about six
inches long and four or five inches wide.
=Material Required to Make a Dark Tunnel for B. V. R. R.=: the lower
half of an ordinary shoe-box.
After you have built your Boxville Railway Station, I am sure you will
like to build a Freight Station for your railway system. You will have
so much freight to go from Boxville! There is no end to the little
boxes! It will take you about five minutes, or less, to build the
freight station. It is so simple that you can almost see how from
looking at the picture. The shoe-box cover is the platform. The lower
half of the deep box you have is turned upside-down and placed upon the
left end of the shoe-box cover. A double door is outlined with pencil at
one end of this box. (See Diagram Two, _B_, page 167, for double door.)
Mark a square three inches wide on the end of the box where the door
should come. Draw down the center of this from top line to lower line.
This gives the two divisions of the door. Cut the top line of the door
space. Cut down the center line of it and across the lower line. Bend
the two doors of the doorway outward. Color them, if you like.
To make the square flat roof, take the box cover and place it down over
the freight building at the top. That is an easy way to make a roof,
isn’t it? And now that the freight office is made, I am sure you will
agree that it is a very fine one indeed. Isn’t it fun to build your own?
Do you want to have me tell you how to make a tunnel too? It will be
fine to have one for your railway system. To make one you will need a
box—almost any that is deep, like a shoe-box, will answer.
How high is the smoke-stack of your train? Two inches? Well, how high
is it from the ground? Five? Then, the holes made for the tunnel
opening in either end of the box will need to be higher still by an
inch or a half-inch. (For cutting a tunnel, see Diagram Four, _B_,
page 173.) Turn your box over. The lower half is the only part you
will need to use, so put aside the cover. In either end of the box cut
out a round opening large enough for your toy train to pass through at
a sixty-miles-a-minute rate. There is your tunnel!
If you have any crape paper, you can cover the sides and top of your box
so that it will look like a big square hill. The ends of the box should
be painted with black paint to look like stone masonry.
Let’s see how well your train goes through the tunnel—toot-too! Here it
goes! Isn’t that the nicest toy you ever saw?
Little bits of boxes make a pile of freight
For my Boxville Railway. It is simply _great_!
Just a cardboard shoe-box makes a tunnel too—
Very black an’ _spooky_ when my train goes through!
[Illustration: The B.R.R. Freight Station. It is a small oblong box with
a cover of another box for its roof. The platform is a shoe-box cover
and the freight is little boxes.]
[Illustration: Shoe-box Tunnel may be made of almost any long box. To
make it, cut rounded openings in the end rims of the box.]
[Illustration: Bandbox Hotel is made of a square hat-box.]
[Illustration: Bandbox Hotel has an opening at the back so that one may
play inside easily. Partitions of rooms are made with shoe-boxes from
which end rims have been removed.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOTEL BANDBOX AND HOW TO FURNISH IT
=Material Required to Make a Hotel Bandbox=: one large bandbox with its
cover, the cover of another square bandbox that is larger. These make
the building and its roof. A shallow box cover will make the roof over
the front door. Two long pencils are pillars. The hotel is furnished
with furniture cut from small boxes. Spools, lace-paper, pinwheel paper,
bits of wall-paper, and the glacine paper covers from books may all be
used.
Did you ever before hear of a dolls’ hotel? If you look at the picture
of Hotel Bandbox, you will see one that may be made from a square
hat-box. Its porch is a large hat-box cover. The building is a hat-box,
smaller than this cover. The roof of the hotel is the cover of the
hat-box itself.
Windows and front door are cut in the rims of the bandbox.
In starting to make a hotel, begin by marking off windows. Each window
must be two inches wide and three inches high. It will help you to place
windows evenly if you mark a horizontal line around three sides of your
bandbox about three inches from the top of the box. Use a ruler, and
make all marks as light as possible. They are only intended to guide
you, and must be rubbed out after you have cut out the window spaces.
Below the line you have drawn, make another, three inches farther down
the sides of the box. This line forms the base of windows.
Next, make the windows that come nearest each corner of the box. Measure
two inches from each corner. This gives the right spacing from the
corner. Measure two inches more on your horizontal line at the top of
the building, and this will give the width of a window. Make the end
windows first. Then make the ones that come between. Space evenly, so
that windows may come at regular intervals. Cut out each window on all
four sides. (For cutting a window, see Diagram One, _A_, page 166.)
Arrange your lower story windows as you have the upper ones.
At the center upon the front of your building outline a large double
door four inches square. It should come at the very base of bandbox. (To
cut double door, see Diagram Two, _B_, page 167.) Cut its top line. Cut
its base line. Cut the cardboard between these two lines in half
vertically to make the door.
When windows and door are made, then you may paste some three-inch
squares of glacine paper back of each window inside the box. The
window-glass is made this way. If you like, you may leave some windows
open.
The building is ready, now, to stand upon the larger bandbox cover. As
you see, this makes a porch.
Place the smaller bandbox cover over the upper part of your hat-box to
make a flat roof.
Over the front door you may make a flat roof. (See Diagram Three, _G_,
page 172.) Use for it a narrow box cover. Glue one long rim of this
cover to the cardboard over your doorway. Press a pencil point downward
through each forward corner of the cover to make a pillar. The pencil
points may be secured in the holes of two spools and thus keep the roof
upright. If you wish, you may glue the spools where they should go.
Cut a narrow strip of cardboard and write the name of your hotel upon
it. Glue this over the doorway.
Flower-stands for the hotel veranda are simple things to make. One spool
will be needed for each flower-stand. Press the stems of some artificial
flowers into the hole of the spool. If you have gilt paint, you can gild
the stands. I painted mine with black water-color paint.
Penny dolls make guests for the hotel. They come already dressed, but
you can take one or two of yours and dress them like men dolls. I inked
mine. You can see them in the picture.
How are you going to play _inside_ the hotel? If you look at the second
picture of the hotel, you will see that it is the back of the box, and
that each corner at the back of the box has been cut. When this is done,
the back lets down. You can cut your hotel building this way. As you
see, it may be closed up again, when you are not playing inside.
Partitions for downstairs rooms are made with two shoe-boxes—just their
lower half is used. Cut the ends off each box. Place each lengthwise
inside the hotel so that there is a space between them. This space forms
the hotel hallway.
Cut a piece of cardboard to fit into your box and put it over the top of
these two shoe-boxes. It forms the floor for the second-story rooms.
Another shoe-box—or two, if you prefer—makes partitions for second-story
rooms.
Doors may be cut in these partitions. (For cutting a single door space,
see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.)
Samples of wall-paper make good carpet for the hotel. You may cut it
into squares to make rugs.
Window curtains may be made from tissue-paper or lace-paper.
The furniture, itself, is cut from very small boxes. Tables are made
with spools.
The lower half of a small oblong box may be cut to form a chair by
removing its rim, half-way around—beginning to cut the rim at the center
of one long side of the box. The part from which the rim is removed is
the back of the chair. Press its cardboard upward. The part that has the
rim left upon it is the seat of the chair, and legs are cut at its two
front corners and in each side at the rear. (See Diagram Six, _C_, page
177, for making a chair.)
Place a pill-box over an upright spool to make a table. Round pill-boxes
make round tables. Square boxes make square tables. (See Diagram Six,
_DD_, page 178.)
An oblong pill-box rested on its side will form a doll’s bureau. Mark
off the drawers upon its front, and glue a strip of cardboard, upright,
at its rear. Paint a mirror frame on the strip of cardboard.
Beds for the hotel chambers may be made of small oblong boxes and their
covers. To make the upper part of the bed, cut off the long rims on each
side of the cover. This leaves headboard and footboard to be glued to
the lower half of the box when this has been turned over to rest upon
its rims. At each corner of the lower half of the box, cut a leg for the
bed to stand upon. Remove the cardboard from between each. (To cut bed,
see Diagram Six, _AA_, page 175.)
Little dolls touring through Hat-box County stop at the hotel overnight.
Drummer dolls, on their business trips to Boxville General Store, find
comfortable accommodations at Bandbox Hotel too. As soon as the toy
train stops at Boxville Station, you may see them making a bee-line for
the hotel.
There are splendid accommodations at Hotel Bandbox. The meals are always
good. You only need to pretend what the dolls want and then give it to
them. Some want their steak well done and are _very_ particular about
it, but the waiter _always_ does right and everybody is _always_
satisfied. After dinner the guests take a walk over to Mirror Lake and
watch the man who is fishing on the bridge there. Or else, perhaps, they
sit on the hotel piazza and watch the people come to the Village square
to get water at the town pump.
Hurry, hurry with the scissors!
Bring the glue-pot or some paste:
We must make a Hotel Bandbox,
The proprietor’s in haste!
Touring through the Boxland Country,
Penny dolls may wish to stay
In this splendid Hotel Bandbox
That we’re building here to-day!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE SHOE-BOX APARTMENT HOUSE
=Material Required to Make a Shoe-box Apartment House=: one shoe-box
with the whole of its cover, one small box about two inches long, and
small boxes and spools for furnishing the apartment house.
You may make a whole row of apartment houses. They are shoe-boxes that
are placed to stand on end. Windows are drawn upon the fronts of the
boxes as they stand. Each apartment house must have a porch and front
door as well.
Would you like to erect an apartment house? Find a shoe-box, then.
Take its cover off. Stand your box on end with the opening at back. Let
the bottom of the box face you. Mark off upon it three window spaces,
each With its base five inches from the top of your box. See that end
windows are equally distant from the sides of your box. Make each window
two inches high and one inch wide.
Arrange second-story windows evenly between top and base of your box,
and place below them the first-story window. Leave a place for a door
just above the base of your box at the left, as the picture of Shoe-box
Apartment will show you. Make the door a little larger than your window
spaces—about three inches high and two inches wide. Next to it, draw a
Window space for the first-floor window.
The windows may be cut out, if you like. (For windows, see Diagram One,
_A_, page 166.) Cut out the squares you have drawn on top, side lines,
and base. Back of each window opening, paste a bit of waxed sandwich
paper to form glass. Outline on the front of the box around the windows,
the window-sashes. Use black ink or water-color paints to do this work.
Paste tissue- or lace-paper curtains over the waxed paper inside the
apartment house to make the windows trim.
Cut the door of the apartment house out. (For door, see Diagram Two,
_A_, page 167.) Cut the top line, down the side next to the window, and
across the base line.
The porch roof is half of a small box glued over the doorway. The porch
itself is the half of a box glued below the doorway.
Now, put the finishing touch to the building by adding a flat roof. Take
the cover of your shoe-box. Cut off all its rims except at one end, a
third of the way around. This end is the roof. Cut it off with rims and
fit it down over the building. Paste it in place.
The floors of the apartment are made by pasting the rest of the cover
into the inside of the box, horizontally. Cut the remaining part of the
cover in half. Fit each section into the box where the floors should be.
Glue the edges that are fitted into the box. Let them dry thoroughly.
Then, you may furnish the interior with boxcraft furniture such as is
used in arranging Hotel Bandbox.
Penny dolls and Noah’s Ark ladies will surely take up light housekeeping
there, if their husbands approve. In the picture, you will see the
janitor, Mr. Jinks. The Noah’s Ark ladies have come to look at the
rooms.
There is a fine apartment “To Let” in Shoe-box Flat—
But those who wish to rent it may not own a dog or cat!
When Mrs. Noah came there, the Janitor said, “No!
We cannot take your animals! We cannot have you—_go_!”
[Illustration: Boxville Apartment House. This is made from a large
shoe-box. Its roof is the end of the cover.]
[Illustration: Here is furniture for the Apartment House and for Bandbox
Hotel.]
[Illustration: A Boxville Residence which is made from a deep
letter-paper box and its cover.]
[Illustration: The Garage is made from a deep square letter-paper box.
The cover of the box is its roof.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BOXVILLE RESIDENCE
=Material Required for Making a Boxville Residence=: a deep, square
letter-paper box with its cover, the cover of a flat letter-paper box
about ten inches long, the cover of a drawer-like pill-box, some glacine
or waxed paper, some artificial flowers, lace-paper cut from candy
boxes, and some box rims.
See what a darling little house I have made for a Boxville Residence!
The husband of Mrs. Doll, who owns the house, goes in his motor car to
Boxville Station every morning. He commutes to Boxtown. You can see Mrs.
Doll and her sister in the picture. Mr. Doll has gone to Boxtown, but in
the picture of the garage that goes with the Boxville Residence you will
see Mr. Doll’s motor and the chauffeur. Don’t you think it would be fun
to make a Boxville Residence like mine? I will tell you how to do it.
First, of course, you will have to hunt for a deep, square letter-paper
box, and the other materials that are needed to use in building. When
you have found your box, turn it over so that it stands upside-down.
Take off the cover. That will be the roof, but you are not ready yet to
put the roof on to the building.
Upon two opposite sides of the box, mark off two window spaces. (For
windows, see Diagram One _AA_, page 166.) Each window space measured
off, with help of ruler and pencil, must be an inch and a half square.
Have the bases of the windows, as well as their tops, made a uniform
distance from the base of the box building. Each window should be an
equal distance from the corner of the box nearest it.
When the two sides of the box are marked out with window spaces, you can
begin upon the front of the house. Draw a door space about four inches
high and two inches broad, and let it come an inch from the right-hand
side of the box building that faces you. (For front door, see Diagram
Two _C_, page 167.) Let the base of your door space come on the very
outer rim of the front of the box. When you have outlined the door, draw
a square in its upper part to indicate where the plate-glass window is
to be in the door. Cut the top line of your door and down its right
side. Then cut out the square you made for the window in it. There, the
door will open and close, you see, when you bend it on the side where
the hinge should be! Waxed paper pasted in a square under the window
opening will make the glass window. Lace-paper makes curtains. A
round-headed paper-fastener with its prongs pushed through the cardboard
door and bent to one side will make a door-knob with a latch. By turning
the knob you can open or fasten the front door tight.
After the door is finished, draw a window space half-way between the
door and the corner of the building on the front of the house. Now, you
can begin to cut out all the windows. Cut each one evenly, and paste a
square of waxed paper or glacine paper back of each, inside the box, to
make window-glass. You can outline the window-frames on the outside,
using black ink or paint.
Doesn’t the box begin to look like a real house? Yes! But it has no roof
yet! Where is the cover of your box? Slip it down over the building.
There you are! The cover of a small drawer-like pill-box will make a
fine chimney. Glue it on end to the top of the roof at the center.
Where is the flat letter-box cover? That is to be the porch. Place it on
the floor or table, and then brush the rims of the box that is your
Boxville Residence with paste or glue so that it will stand well back
upon this veranda. Be careful not to have any paste under the door. See,
there is the front porch. The veranda railing is just a box rim cut from
a box and pasted to the edge of the veranda on the cover of the
letter-paper box.
If you wish to have a step up to the front porch, a small box or its
cover will make this.
My Boxville Residence has a garden. Mrs. Doll is very fond of gardens,
and so is Mr. Doll also. I made the garden from a wreath of flowers that
was on an old summer hat. I made an arbor. It was easy to make that. The
arbor is cut from a candy box. It is just half the rim. I stood it up on
its ends and trimmed it with the flowers. Of course, if you play
out-of-doors with your Boxville Residence, you can have real flowers to
play with. You can lay out walks with pebbles and gravel when you do not
play in the house. I made a fountain or a pool for the garden from a
hand-glass. At almost any penny store you can buy a little round mirror
that will make a garden pool. You can make a sun-dial also. It is a
spool with a pill-box placed over one end of it. You will have to mark
off the face of the sun-dial with pencil.
Don’t you think that this makes a comfortable home for a Boxville
resident? I do. I almost wish I were a little doll, so that I might open
the front door and begin furnishing the inside of the house with box
furniture and spools.
’Mid pleasures and palaces where’er you may roam,
There is no place like Boxville for a little doll’s home!
A charm from the fairies seems magic play there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne’er met elsewhere.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOXVILLE GARAGE OR STABLE
=Material Required to Make a Boxville Garage or Stable=: one deep
letter-paper box with its cover.
Here is a toy garage. It belongs to the residence of Mr. Doll of
Boxville. Would you like to make a garage like it?
The box you will need to use for making a garage must be deep and
square. Place it upon the table standing upon its rims. Then, the bottom
of the box will become the top of your building, and you may place the
cover over this and glue it to make a flat roof.
Upon the front of your box, draw a large square four inches in size. Let
the base of this square come upon the outer rim of the box. The square
is to be the large double door of the garage. (To cut the door, see
Diagram Two, _B_, page 167.) Cut the top line. Cut the base line. From
top to base line cut another line dividing the doorway into halves to
form the doors.
The doors will fold outward when you have finished cutting them. Paint
them green, if you wish.
On each side of your box, you may draw a window with blinds. The window
should be two inches square, and should be placed in the center of each
side. Draw a line vertically from top to base of the window space to
make the divisions for the blinds. This line should divide the window
space evenly into halves. (To cut window with blinds, see Diagram One,
_C_, page 166.) Cut across the top of each window you have marked out.
Cut down its center line, and cut its base line. Press the cardboard
outward against the sides of the little building to make blinds. Color
the blinds to match the door.
There! The garage is finished. Wind up your toy automobile, and let us
see how nicely it runs right through the doorway!
Here is Boxville Garage—just the very toy
For an automobile owned by a small boy!
Takes a half a second just to cut a door
And two little windows. There is nothing more!
Anyone can make it, for the garage here
Is a box of cardboard. Isn’t it just _dear_!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAKING A BOXVILLE GARDEN
=Material Required to Make a Greenhouse=: the half of some deep box from
five to seven inches long and about five inches deep (the half of a box
such as is usually to be found at a hardware store), about twelve square
inches of cardboard from which to cut a roof, and a sheet of waxed
sandwich paper.
=Material Required to Make a Pergola=: half of a ordinary white
shoe-box, and a strip of cardboard about thirteen inches long and seven
inches wide.
=Material Required to Make the Garden Itself=: artificial flowers, some
spools for flower-stands, sand paper for roadway and gravel walks, a
penny mirror for a sunken-garden pool, boxes for benches, green crape
paper for grass, a long box to make a hedge, moss, pebbles, shells, and
pretty twigs from out-of-doors.
It is such fun to play in a garden that I made one for Boxville. It
belongs to Mr. Penny Doll’s residence. It has a pergola and a
greenhouse, a sunken pool, flower-stands, gravel walks, benches, and
everything that a garden _should_ have.
Green crape paper placed upon the floor will make the garden lawn.
Sandpaper cut in strips and laid upon it forms the garden paths. A
roadway may be made from sandpaper too. If you have none, ordinary brown
paper will answer. A long box covered over with green crape paper looks
just like a garden hedge. The paper should be pasted over the sides of
the box quite flat. Garden stands are made by gilding spools and then
poking into each spool, as it stands upright, some artificial flowers.
Greenhouse for the garden is made from the deep half of some box about
seven inches long and five inches deep. If you like, your greenhouse may
be made smaller, but this size is an easy one to handle.
The box itself forms the greenhouse building. Its roof is of bent
cardboard, and the glass in it is waxed sandwich paper.
Shall I tell you how to make the greenhouse so that you may make one
like it? First, take the half of the box you intend to use and place it
upon its rims, open at base.
Next, one inch above the base, on each corner make a pencil dot.
Cut the top off the rims of your box.