Poor Man's Photo Box--Photo Tutorial

      Tools/supplies: ILLUSTRATION BOARD (custom frame/art supply section of craft stores), quilting ruler (preferred) or ruler, pencil, Xacto knife with sharp blade, CARPET TAPE 1.5” wide

Illustration Board is used because it is thicker and RIGID like wood (except you can use Xacto knife to cut, and it is acid free to boot). You can use mat board, but it is too floppy to my taste.

Template for cutting the photobox (boxes labeled #1, 2, 3,5). Not to scale. Ignore Box #6,4

       Draw the template onto illustration board, on the side you do not want showing (with all the writing on it), including the dash lines. A square quilting ruler as shown is easiest because lines are level as you draw. For a 16 x 20” board, you can make a 6” box using the template above the picture. 

The picture illustrates the lines for making an 8” box from 16 x 20 board. For bigger boxes, you will need 32 x 40" illustration board.

     Use your Xacto knife to cut as follows: DASHED lines get cut into but not through the board, NON-DASHED LINES get cut through full thickness of board. You should be able to bend the sides where there are dashed lines. You may have to make MULTIPLE passes to fully cut through the board.

      Seal the sides of the box with CARPET TAPE (basically industrial strength double sided tape). 

      The finished box will have 3 sides & a bottom, but no top or front.

 6” and 8” photo box nested in each other, both used 16x20 illustration board.

       Now you can place your miniature items into the box and take pictures. The box gives you a nice clean background on all 3 sides. I chose white so that if you print the picture, you won’t waste a lot of ink on background color.

     If you want a colored background, just add colored paper or fabric into the box and voila!