Works For Me Wednesday: Photo Cube

By Alan

As a fan of Make Magazine, especially the online articles, I came across one build that was a real winner. A project that looks complicated, but turns out to be kind of easy once you figure out the plans.

Lots of people have photo cubes. Six sided blocks of wood or plastic with family photos glued to each face. The article I found had a cube that could be taped together in a particular pattern that allows it to be opened up in interesting ways to show twice as many photos as a regular cube.

So, to build the thing, you buy eight identical wooden blocks, or cut your own. [Or you can steal 8 blocks from your children's toy chest. Don't worry, I'll give them back.]

Stack the cubes in a 4 x 4 x 4 arrangement. To provide the special hinging to allow for unfolding and refolding in a new configuration is the special trick. You need 7 pieces of clear tape, preferably the exact width of one cube, and length of 2 cubes. Simple, once you get to see how it's done.

Here are two diagrams (Yes, I drew them myself) showing the front and back of the cube to show how to tape the cubes together. 

Normally, you can include 6 photos, each cut into 4 pieces for a total of 24 parts. However, with this cube, you have 48 parts, which might be assembled into squares, or rectangles for more pictures.

Check out the article in Make Magazine here. If you really want to blow your mind, check out this video of a Yoshimoto Cube.

Every Wednesday, fellow blogger Kristen at We are THAT Family posts clever ideas for getting things done. She calls it, "Works For Me Wednesday" or WFMW. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.