DIY Network

The Love Box Build a nostalgic love token. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-132

Feel the love with this romantic sculpture.

Artists Brad and Sundie Ruppert specialize in turning vintage trash into modern treasures. But you don't need to be a pro to create something beautiful from found objects: Sundie Ruppert showed Michele Beschen and B. Original viewers how to make a nostalgic "Love Box" using simple techniques and a few vintage materials.

It just takes a box, some old paper, a heart-shaped candy mold and a few other trinkets to declare your devotion. Of course, you don't have to be in the mood for love to use these shadowbox techniques—they also work beautifully on more everyday projects. Scroll down for the how-to.

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Materials:

large wooden cigar box
acrylic paints
vintage printed material
Weld-Bond glue
small piece of velvet
rubber stamp
iron
spray adhesive such as Super 77
old game pieces
drill
baling wire
heart-shaped candy mold
sewing dart wheel
beads

	Figure A
	Figure B

• Cut a large cigar box in two and paint it black. If you don't have a wooden cigar box, you can build a simple wooden box in whatever size suits your vision for the project.

• Glue vintage paper inside the back of the box with Weld-Bond glue. (Sundie Ruppert recommends Weld-Bond because it doesn't make paper wrinkle up.) Dot the back of the box with white acrylic paint (figure A)

• Emboss a piece of velvet with a rubber stamp: Dampen the velvet with a spray bottle and lay it over a stamp, fuzzy side down. Press with a hot iron for 30 seconds to emboss the design.

• Use spray adhesive to glue the velvet inside the back of the box (figure B). The velvet would absorb moisture from regular glue, making the embossed pattern go away.

• Spell out your message—Sundie and Michele Beschen used "love"—with game piece letters. Paint or embellish the letters as desired (figure C). Drill a hole in each piece and attach with a baling wire nail (figure D).
  

  Figure C

  Figure D

  
  

  
  

• Drill a hole in the middle of the box and the candy mold, and attach with a baling wire nail (figure E). Sundie Ruppert and Michele Beschen added a letter U to the mold, so that the game pieces all together spelled out "Love U."
  

  Figure E

  Figure F

  
  

• Use a sewing dart wheel to dot the side of the box with tiny dots of white acrylic paint (figure F). Go back with a small paintbrush to make random dots larger than theothers.

• Drill two holes through the back of the box and thread baling wire through from the back. Curl the wire ends inside the box around decorative beads; use the wire at the back as a hanger.

GUESTS :

Brad and Sundie Ruppert
E-mail: vintagesculpture@studiogonline.com
Website: www.vintagesculpture.com