Greetings to all…

When I saw the picture of the vintage original, I knew had to drop my other projects and make my own version…

Since the photo of the original is under copyright, I can’t post it…but my version is very close…however I did substitute a "flattie cat” for the molded paper mâché one on the original...

SOUP CAN FORM…Wrapped with two layers of waxed paper so white glue won’t stick to form…and hat tube will slide off the form when glue has dried…

HAT TUBE…Manila file folder or cereal box cardboard wrapped around soup can form two times…laminated with white glue…

NOTE…After making my prototype and taking the progress photos, I cut the hat tube down to 3” tall and reduced the inside tube height to 2 5/8” tall…

TOP OF HAT TUBE…Cardboard disc and foam core disc cut to fit inside of tube…there are two slits for tabs on cat flattie…

HAT TRIM BAND…Strip of 3/4” single face corrugated cardboard…I may add a “friendly skull” cutout about 1” high to the hat trim band…

INSIDE TUBE…Rolled to be a gentle slide fit inside hat tube…same basic assembly as hat tube…

HAT BRIM…A 4 3/4” diameter cardboard disc…

CAT FLATTIE…Two layers of heavyweight poster board glued back-to-back with small paper clip wire inside to stiffen…
wires run down through the tabs at feet of cat…I cut both cat profiles at the same time so they line up when gluing together…
I’ll post the cat pattern PDF and more photos later…

Stay tuned…

Howard…

Ingenious...looking forward to seeing this in final form.

UPDATE…8/17/2024…

Greetings to all…

Below the photo of the finished candy box, you’ll find the PDF for the cat “flattie”…

I tried painting the face and the bow tie, but the results were unsatisfactory…so I cut the features from card stock and glued them in place…

Black parts of the eyes and bow tie were drawn with a fine point ballpoint…teeth are tiny slivers of white address labels…streaks on the face,
where tail meets the body and paws were drawn with a silver permanent marker…then I gave the cat a final coat of matte Mod Podge…

The more I look at the basic hat, the more I realize it could be the base for so many seasonal/holiday theme pieces…
just change the colors and theme of the “flattie”…I’m looking at a Thanksgiving turkey right now…
and I’m certain you skilled and talented computer cutter people are way ahead of me…

Howard…

I'll post one more picture of the candy box "in action" later...

I love love it!!

I'm working on mine now!!!

UPDATE...8/18/2024...

Here's the candy box "in action"...I was going to add a "friendly skull" about 1" high to the green hat band trim...but decided against it...I'm looking forward to seeing the version of this project you make...there are so many possibilities...

UPDATE ON OPTIONAL "TURKEY TOPPER" FOR HAT...8/20/2024...

As I mentioned earlier, the hat could be used for other seasons with just a different topper and appropriate color pallet…I also hinted that a Thanksgiving Turkey” was in the works…

This turkey is based on the pattern of a thin plywood one a friend shared with me years ago…but I had to make a body that was sturdier than a single piece of cardboard…thus the two identical body cutouts…they’re glued together from the beak to slightly beyond the neck to form a “Y”…

The PDF pattern below is sized to sit on the soup can form hat…the “wing span” is about 2 1/2”…but I enlarged the pattern to make a larger, free standing decoration piece with a “wing span” of about 4”…this larger one is the one pictured...

The cardboard base is approximately 3 3/4" to 4” in diameter…I cut it out with decorative scrapbooking scissors…there will be two slots in the base for the feet tabs…I’ll add them when I figure out when they fall after turkey is finished…

PLEASE NOTE...the pictures of the turkey are of my pattern prototype...not the final cutouts...I'm going to cut the final parts out of corrugated cardboard from a recycled express mailing box...I'll prime and paint both sides of the cardboard an overall motley range of grayish brown...then cut out the two bodies, wing piece and tail feathers...more later about the face, beak, colorful feathers and base...stay tuned...

Howard...

UPDATE…8/24/2024…

Greetings to all…

Thomas D. Turkey is finished…but I must confess it took me multiple tries to get some of the painting and details right…but I think it turned out OK…

I added a Pilgrim hat with a silver paper buckle…red felt was used for what I learned is called the “wattle and snood” on the head…see the patterns below…the gold on the feather tips is metallic gold permanent marker…the straw on the base is actual straw that was run through a blender and applied with white glue…

Stay tuned to the Cardboard Christmas Forum for more projects…look for the next one about the first of the month…

Howard…

Looks great, nicely done. This is a great pattern!!

Looks terrific, Howard, a quite realistic/seasonal paint scheme to my eye. Adding the hat was brilliant!

A real turkey-in-the-straw.

Paul R. II