Cardboard Crowns

Crowns can be as simple as just three or four strips of card, but once those are fitted into place you can add whatever you like to make them as elaborate as you wish. The basic method for making them is explained in more details my book ‘Art Shaped’, but I decided to create a special version here to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III.

Firstly you just need a selection of thin cardboard strips, cereal box card is good for this as it’s strong but flexible. You need to make a simple ‘band’ which fits comfortably around the wearers head and then make two cross strips that span like ‘bridges’ from front to back, and from left to right. Once that’s done you can use extra cardboard strips to make additional structural details, I’ve added extra pieces at the sides here and a loop in the centre.

So, you could just add typical cardboard triangles around the edge of the crown for a more basic design, but here I’ve made some additional 3D elements. They are simply folded and cut to make them symmetrical. I’ve then refolded them, made two cuts in the centre, and pushed them in to make a central ‘jewel’. Once you have made one of these that you are happy with, you can then use it as a template to make others.

Adding corrugated cardboard really brings these crowns to life. I’ve just stripped the ‘skin’ from some regular ‘box card’ and used the corrugated texture to highlight some of the main areas where there is decoration on the original crown. These strips are glued into place, sometimes held temporarily with tape while they dry. Not only do they add to the design but gluing them on helps to hold the whole structure together, making it more robust.

Now, you could just paint this, but I decided to use up some of my leftover card to make some cardboard jewels. It’s easier to make these separately on a ‘strip’ and them cut them out once dry. I’ve just cut squares, rectangles, and oval shapes and then used a hole-punch to take out some smaller circles.

Once dry these jewels can be cut out and stuck into place. I’ve used some stronger PVA (wood glue) for this, just because they are fiddly and hard to keep in place. I’ve also ‘zip-cut’ a half tube shape to bend around the base to make the ‘ermine’ layer. Obviously you could paint this, or even add some paper mache to strengthen some parts. Metallic paints work really well and you could even try a bit of sponge painting or dry-brushing to pick out some of the details and textures.

I had a lot of fun with this and other folks had a go too . . .