In real life I had a dream that I was in a library, in the back shelves. I will tell you more about that dream but first, because this is the cardboard crafting section of my website, let me tell you about the project and how cardboard is a part of it.

As of the writing of this article the project is not yet complete. I will keep you updated. You may want to bookmark this page so you can check back in the future.

The project has more walls, more books, a secret room and a hidden bookshelf that opens when a specific book is triggered. It also will have lights.

So let's take a look at the role of cardboard in this project.

I talk a lot about how cardboard is amazing! And how it can be used in an unlimited number of ways. And in this little tutorial I show you that it can also be used to create sets for stop motion animation.

I started out the project with some drawings, trying to figure out what I wanted in terms of the set. And then, you can see in this picture at left that I experimented with some pieces of cardboard, and the figure I would use in the animation to get a sense for the size and scale of things i would make.

I have a whole bunch of this extra thick cardboard. It is about a half inch thick and I think it was packing for a water heater, or maybe a big screen tv. You don't need to have any of this stuff but I used it for it's extra strength. It is almost perfect for the various library shelves.

It's for the vertical columns that hold up the various shelves.

And one of the bookshelves contains a secret book that activates a secret door that opens when triggered.

I put that book on a simple hinge. It is a piece of thick wire that runs through the bottom of the book. Now the book will hinge forward like this.

Our stop motion figure will trigger the secret door with this book.

I wanted this to have a library feel to it and one of the ways to do that is by covering the floor with something other thann cardboard. For this I used contact paper. Yup, it's very inexpensive and available in an unlimited number of patterns. I chose a marble simulated pattern.

Contact paper has an adhesive on the back. So you can stick it down. In this next picture you can see I am applying the contact paper. The left end has been adhered down. You peel off the backing and stick it down. I continue this for the whole sheet. And do even more for most of the floor in the library.

Let's look at some more. You probably noticed all the colorful books in this project. Let's look at how I made them. -continue