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DIY Shows How to Make Your Kid a Cardboard Knight in Armor

cardboard costume

Artist Warren King proves that cardboard doesn’t just have to be for boxes. With some creativity and engineering know-how, the packing material can form spectacular works of art. Or, if you’re an imaginative 6-year-old, it can make for a fantastic knights costume. King fashioned a set of Gothic-style armor for one lucky kid and shared his entire process on Flickr. There, you get a detailed look at the corrugated cardboard costume DIY. It boasts an incredible amount of detail and movement—despite the restraints of the material.

To produce the armor, King used a few basic supplies. Aside from the cardboard, he gathered hot glue, paint, elastic bands, and velcro. From there, he cut out pieces of the front breast plate, arms, legs, and helmet. Each body part was made up of several smaller pieces, which allowed for more movement in the suit. Because just like its 15th-century inspiration, cardboard doesn’t have a lot of give to it—too much bending would cause the joints to break. To mitigate this, King created cutouts for the arms, and he also angled pieces for the shoulders and thighs. Each joint adhered together using tiny pieces of cardboard that were layered across the seams like a piece of tape.

The end result is spectacular. King’s engineering produced a cardboard costume tailored to the fantasy-loving kid. And while we enjoy seeing the kraft-colored cardboard, the final iteration of the armor was painted black and silver to give it a metallic look and feel. Complete with a sword and shield, this boy is ready to do battle!

To begin creating the cardboard costume, artist Warren King cut shapes from the corrugated material.cardboard knight

cardboard costume diy

Smaller pieces of cardboard helped adhere two pieces together.

cardboard costume diy

how to make a kid's cardboard costume

how to make a kid's cardboard costume

Once King started his build, the knight's costume really started to take shape.

cardboard costume diy

cardboard costume diy

cardboard costume

cardboard knight

The shoes were secured with rubber bands.

cardboard knight

creative cardboard diy

kid's cardboard costume

creative cardboard diy

creative cardboard diy

The final results look great as kraft brown…

cardboard costume diy for kids

cardboard costume diy for kids

cardboard costume

kid's cardboard costume

…but King added some slick black and gray paint for a metallic effect.

kid's cardboard costume

cardboard costume diy for kids

kid's cardboard knight costume

Warren King: Website | Flickr | Instagram
h/t: [Reddit]

All images via Warren King.

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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