Monday, September 1, 2014

DIY Disney CARS Piston Cup

In preparation for my son's Disney CARS themed birthday party, I built a Piston Cup for a centerpiece. 


Here's how:

MATERIALS
- plastic containers (I used one margarine and one sour cream container, plus their lids)
- foam core board (optional)
- cardboard
- paint (gold, black)
- scissors, glue, pencil, other basic supplies


1. I started with a photo of the Piston Cup and enlarged it so the size matched my plastic containers. I created templates for the side "wings" and the stem of the trophy. I cut six of each piece from foam core board (cardboard would work also). Glue all six layers of the stem together. Glue two sets of three layers of wings together to create the two wings.


2. I made the base of the trophy by stuffing the margarine container full of balled up newspaper (to make it less squishy) and gluing the lid on it, then gluing the lid of the sour cream container onto the bottom. Flip the entire thing over and paint it completely black.

3. For the "cup" of the trophy, I made a cylinder of cardboard and glued it around the sour cream container. For the bottom of the cup, I cut an oval of cardboard and curved it to fit.




4. Glue the wings to the sides of the cup and the stem to the base of the cup. Paint the entire assembled trophy gold. Add the accents, stripes, and words.



5. Glue the trophy onto the base. DONE.

11 comments:

  1. I LOVE THIS! Can you tell me what kind of glue you used specifically?

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  2. Hi Lisa! I used a glue gun for the cardboard "cup" part, because I needed it to set quickly in order to get the nice curved shape, and white "school" glue for the foam core board parts because I was worried the hot glue would melt/distort the foam.

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  3. I would like to use it for favors for my sons 3rd bday can I fill the cup with candy? Will it hold?

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    Replies
    1. It should definitely hold candy. It's quite strong.

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  4. How did you get the accents of the wings and stem to "stick out" after painting the top half gold? Puffy glitter glue? Glue Gun? Thanks in advance!

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    Replies
    1. It was a squeezable bottle of 3D paint. It might have been meant for fabric. Puffy glue or a glue gun would probably work too. I would test it on a scrap piece first.

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    2. I feel like you could also do a thin, even strip of hot glue and paint over it to give it that raised look

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  5. Thank you very much for sharing this! Made mine slightly differently to yours. I reused some old packing boxes instead of foam board, and used gold foiled cardboard for the cup.

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  6. Hi there, can you please share the templates that you use for the "mold"?

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  7. They are included in the pictures above. I believe I just traced them.

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