In the studio with Kait Eaton, illustrator and maker of Cardboard Box Creations

Craig and I began off by creating a very lengthy checklist of enjoyable issues we might attempt to make from cardboard and pulled collectively a temper board. As soon as we’d whittled down the checklist, we shared our favourites with the creator, Laura Baker, who created a web page plan from our concepts. Laura chosen an excellent combine of enormous and small scale makes that she knew can be enjoyable for youngsters to make and play with. As Cardboard Field Creations is predicated round an thrilling worldwide journey, all of us thought it made good sense to start out off with a suitcase, passport and digital camera!

How did you make a begin?

As soon as we had an preliminary web page plan in place, we set about gathering as a lot cardboard as attainable. Our family and friends all saved their supply bins and we raided native companies’ recycling bins (with their permission!). Nevertheless, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than we realised we would want to vary a few the fashions as they have been too tough to execute with minimal grownup assist. The Colosseum, Golden Gate Bridge and Taj Mahal have been all a bit formidable for small palms! We have been actually eager to create a guide stuffed with accessible concepts that kids might – for essentially the most half, no less than – do and adorn themselves.

As soon as the fashions had been photographed, I illustrated additional particulars so as to add to the pictures. Birds, buildings, ornamental gildings and folks have been hand-drawn straight into the pictures on the display screen with a pill pen. We needed the illustrations to deliver the cardboard creations to life in the identical approach a baby’s creativeness would.

Have been there any challenges?

Sure: lack of house! 21 fashions, some as massive as us, fully took over our studio, kitchen and eating room. We couldn’t transfer for cardboard. Our youngsters needed to play with them and our cats needed to climb in them! The roof of the Japanese Tea Home was additionally fairly a problem. We actually needed it to curve up when taped collectively to look genuine, so Craig made numerous mini variations to observe the angles.

What’s the one merchandise in your studio you’ll be able to’t reside with out?

The apparent reply can be our Macs, however that apart it needs to be the radio. You’ll be able to’t beat having a little bit of background chat or music to work to.

How did you get into illustrating books?

I used to be fortunate sufficient to land a job as an in-house illustrator for a toy firm as soon as I completed college, however my coronary heart was in kids’s publishing and I recurrently purchased beautiful image books that impressed me. My bookshelves have been full of youngsters’s books lengthy earlier than I had kids! Craig labored as a designer for a couple of kids’s publishers after graduating, so after we arrange Duck Egg Blue collectively, pooling our expertise to design and illustrate kids’s books was a pure development.

Kait’s creations and illustrations

When Kait stated ‘we couldn’t transfer for cardboard!’ she wasn’t mendacity…

Cardboard field creations aren’t at all times straightforward when there is a curious cat round

A New York Cab and a London Bus

Street signal illustrations for the guide

The New York skyline from the again cowl of the guide

Illustrations overlayed on cardboard as proven within the guide

Illustrations of the instruments wanted to make the cardboard field creations

A remaining unfold from the guide: how you can construct a cardboard campsite

A remaining unfold from the guide: how you can construct an Amazon journey ?