Shoe Box Adventures Part One: Something Fishy! By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

Today's tutorial is a trash-to-treasure tale: I was breaking down a shoe box to put into recycling when it hit me that the hole in one of the flaps looked like an eye, and the notched area in another flap looked like the fin on a fish. Instead of taking it to the bin I took it to the studio, did some more cutting and before I knew it the fish was finished.

I backed the hole with a scrap from a gel print, removed the shank from a button and added it for the eye.

A taped section from the side of the box became the fin.

To hint at the origins of the cardboard, a shoe box, I chose a vintage card from some old shoelaces and used one of the shoelaces for the loop from which the fish will hang. The card is reinforced for added stability with a piece of the shoe box as well as a contrasting piece of cardstock. This rectangle is glued behind the fish where it also helps stabilize the fin.

I can’t decide if I like this minimalist approach to mixed media or not. I’m thinking about taking the fish apart and doing more to the pieces: paint, stencil, collage. 

What do YOU think? Please leave a comment! If the ‘vote’ says yes, I will do more to the fish and there will be a Part Two to this tutorial… 

NOW here’s YOUR CHALLENGE: 

1. Find a cardboard carton. (Shown: Box from LL Bean slippers)
2. Cut it into pieces.
Arrange and rearrange the pieces until you’ve created an animal or a whimsical figure.
3. Alter the pieces or leave them plain.
4. Glue the pieces together.
5. Embellish a little, a lot, or not at all.

  (Had it been a bird instead of a fish I know I would have added feathers!)