Creation of The Cardboard Spheres

Before this project, cardboard to me was just some material that was commonly used to form boxes.  I hadn't messed with it out of this form, so to create a sphere using cardboard was a foreign concept to me.  A 45 minute ride home gave me just enough time to brainstorm this foreign concept.  When i started creating the spheres I first realized cardboard is a very stiff material and does not like to be bent.  I finally decided to cut triangles and glue them together to hopefully form a sphere.  The first try was unsuccessful;  I then came to the conclusion, measuring each triangle equally is  very important when trying to create a sphere.   

                                                            With glue.  Skin of a sphere.

The second sphere I created used glue and we were to create an infastructure.  I had a few different ideas for this one, but chose the easiest (or so i thought).  Cutting perfect circles with a box cutter and finding the exact center are very difficult things, especially if you dont think to use a home-made compass. 

                                                      With glue.  Infastructure of a Sphere.

The third and thankfully final sphere was to be created with out glue.  This was the most difficult one for me to do.  I had my whole family and boyfriend brainstorming for this one.  I attempted one way, which took about three hours with everyone helping me cut shapes.  It ended up looking more like an Indian head dress than a sphere.  After the feeling of failure subsided and a little help from my engineer Dad, I went back to creating a new design.  Taking on the look of a soccer ball, I cut pentagons and hexagons creating tabs on all sides.  I cut slits on these tabs, and very carefully they all slide together finally forming a sphere ....with no glue!!

                                                                           No glue.

This was a stressful little project, but I definitely learned some things about cardboard.