L is for Light Box

I rarely write a blog post that doesn't include at least one picture, something I've taken on my iphone, often out of focus (because, according to my husband, I always jerk my arm when I click the shutter). Food. Cats. Preschoolers. Selfies. Butt cracks. Many and varied pictures end up on my blog.

For my Pinterest projects this month, pictures are imperative. I can TELL you I made the best homemade doughnuts in the universe. I can describe them in detail as little bites of Heaven, but when I show you a picture of that doughnut, you can see for yourself that I am the doughnut QUEEN. 

The biggest problem with these pictures, especially the food or craft ones, is that the background sucks. My kitchen counters are made from garden variety laminate. They are also dark green. I do not care much for them, because (a) they dictate what color scheme is in my kitchen, (b) they are dated, and all the cool kids have granite, (c) the dark green color shows every grain of salt, every crumb, every fingerprint. When I take a picture of something I'm cooking (or have cooked), my background is always dark green. Sometimes, I take the pictures in my dining room, where everything is, well, wood colored. Additionally, the lighting in my house is poor, as you might expect from a nearly-90 year old home. The pictures end up being pretty meh.

Scrolling through Pinterest one day, I saw something called a light box. When I kept reading, I learned that all those pictures I've seen where the object seems to float in the air against a white blackground are taken in a light box. 

Found on flaxandtwine.com

I picked up a box at Aldi and a piece of white poster board at the Dollar Store (I've spent many dollars at the Dollar Store lately). I had white tissue paper at home, as well as packing tape. That's it for the supplies, making it the second cheapest A to Z Challenge Pinterest project I've done so far (you can't beat toilet paper tubes, rubber bands and wax paper in the cheap project category). 

This box once held toilet seats.

The directions called for cutting off the flaps of the box, then cutting windows out of the two sides and top, leaving a border all the way around. Not until I was at the very last step did I realize I got carried away and cut off a piece that was pretty instrumental in holding the sides of the box in their intended upright position, but I made it work. The three windows are then covered with white tissue paper, which is taped into place. The piece of poster board is cut to fit the width of the box and is attached to the back wall, where it curves and then covers the bottom of the box. 

Windows cut. At the top left. there SHOULD have been
 a strip of cardboard joining the corners, but I got carried away.

Ruby's unsolicited help.

One window covered.

I don't know that it was necessary, but I ironed my tissue paper, because the tissue paper in the Pinterest pin illustrations was pretty smooth, and mine had fold lines in it.  I also put the poster board in BEFORE I covered the top window with tissue paper, because it only made sense to work in a space with an open top than to try and fit poster board inside a box without tearing the tissue paper, and I don't regret that decision.

The only problem I had was the strips of cardboard box that still showed where the sides met the bottom of the box. Unless I took an extreme close up picture, the strips of cardboard showed in the pictures, so I spent way too much time cutting strips of tissue paper and covering all the cardboard.

Patching strips of cardboard that showed.
The poster board is attached to the top and will
come down the back and curve onto the floor of the box.

Ready for photos.

Then it was time to test the project:

My bunny salt and pepper shakers on top of a sideboard.

And inside the ight box.

Scissors on the dining room table.

And in the light box.

Random Easter decoration on dining room table.

And in the light box.

It wasn't QUITE as easy as the writer made it out to be, but it's a project with potential! I'll give it a win.