I was thinking of the different ways I'd be able to display my Tart Cards. As it is now illegal to place Tart Cards in telephone boxes and is punishable by six months in prison or a fine of up to £5,000. I didn't want to risk putting too many around. I decided I was going to create my own Telephone Box to display them in which I could photograph in different locations.
I found an old telephone and a cardboard box to create the actual telephone. I spray painted them both bright pink as I wanted the telephone box to look normal from the outside but be fully pink coloured on the inside.
I really like this colour and think it will stand out perfectly inside the telephone box.
I did find an issue with the cardboard box. As the outside of it was shiny, the spray paint wouldn't dry or stick to it. So I had to turn the box inside out and spray it again.
Then I cut the cardboard box and began to paint it. I used Wilkinson's tester pots to paint it as I needed a lot of paint and it was very inexpensive.
The colours I used were: Ruby Ring (red) and Sugar Sweet (pink).
Painting the Cardboard box after cutting windows out of it. I also cut two doors. Because I cut a lot of windows out of the box and had to cut two doors out of it, it lost a lot of structure so I was hoping the paint may add some support and strength to it.
I also started painting the inside pink which was very difficult as I did not want the paint to spread to the outside of the box as it would look messy and create drips. I attached the phone and smaller cardboard together, I did this by making a hole big enough for the phone wire to fit through so it would dangle down. I wanted it to look as if the phone had just been taken off the hook. I attached it to the telephone box with double sided tape and superglue.
After attaching the telephone, I noticed some bits which needed touching up before I added the cellophane to the windows.
I added the cellophane to the windows. I was going to do each individual window but thought it'd take too long to create the same effect as one sheet would going from the top of the box to the bottom.
I went onto create the lid of the Telephone Box. The cardboard box I was cutting from had a lid but it was flat and I needed a slightly domed roof. To create this, I added three balloons to the top of the lip and paper mached over the top of it. I wanted it to be slightly stronger than newspaper and PVA glue so I used wallpaper paste instead.
Overall, I think it worked really well and kept the structure I wanted. It didn't have the smoothest finish, which I was expecting but it did cover very easily with 2 coats of red paint. Once I'd put the lid onto the box, it added a lot more structure to the box and it felt a lot sturdier. I cut two slits into the sides of the lid to allow the doors of it to open and close.
Decorating the Telephone Box:
I decorated the Telephone Box with Tart Cards and added two pink and red pompom fairy lights. I think it looked very effective as they fit in perfectly with the colour scheme of the Telephone Box and looked the perfect amount of tacky.
As I wanted it to look realistic, I researched about the different information you could find in a Telephone Box and created my own poster to add in. I slotted a photo frame into the gap next to the telephone and it fit perfectly.
My information sign:
I printed out the words 'TELEPHONE' and 'TART CARDS' so I could stick them to the sides of the lid.
Overall, I'm very happy with the way my Telephone Box turned out. My aim is to now take it to different locations and photograph it.
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