DIY Cardboard Spray Booth

One of the biggest shocks of moving from the desert to the Midwest is a sudden change in everything outside your home: The air changes temperature, everything gets wet, it gets so not-warm that sometimes you have to dress differently... It's exhausting keeping up with this changing weather. We used to leave the cardboard box we spray-painted things on outside for weeks at a time and the worst that would happen is a small dust storm would move it a few feet. Now, we've been snowed in on the weekends and it simply isn't conducive to spray paint when everything is frozen under a few inches of what I am assured is water that fell from the sky. The sky! We needed something to let us spray paint more-or-less indoors. Maybe you do, too.


You'll Need:

• A box fan
• Furnace filters similar in size to your fan
• A cardboard box at least as big as the fan/filters
• Duct tape
• Empty gift cards or other sheet plastic
• Zip ties
• Under-cabinet light source
• Lazy Susan
• Flexible dryer hose, plus some hardware (hose clamp, some kind of flange for vents)
• Tools: Cutting tools, straightedge, measuring things, marker

Budget Superhero Cowl

A few years ago, I was invited to a themed costume party, "Favorite Fictional Character." I was out of town, living out of a suitcase for three months, and the expectation was I would arrive to the party as Batman. This would have been impossible if I held to any reasonable standard of construction, so I built the entire outfit from a store-bought black t-shirt, a roll of black duct tape, electrical tape, and the cardboard from a Diet Coke box. The only tools used were a Sharpie and my Leatherman. The night before the party.

To make your own superhero/luchador cowl on the cheap, you'll need:

• Trash bag
• Duct tape: Cheapest silver you can find and the main color or colors of your character
• Electrical tape for details (Optional)
• Shoelaces, at least 45"
• Pair of scissors
• Permanent marker
• A trustworthy assistant