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Collage of five diverse artworks from the Hammer Museum Collections side by side. From left to right: 1) Contemporary painting of two embracing figures with surreal elements. 2) Post-impressionist style painting of trees with vibrant blues and greens. 3) Black and white illustration of a face with intricate patterns. 4) Japanese woodblock print style image of a figure in a checkered robe. 5) Photograph of a couple dancing, the woman in a black dress and the man in white

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Three images side by side: the first is a cardboard box with colored pencils, the second is an outline drawing of a young girl on a transparent sheet, the third is a shadowbox with the black figure of the girl in the center.

Black Voices, Black Joy: Shadow Box Tutorial

– By Kenturah Davis

This book describes things that bring happiness to 7 year old, Layla. The book begins with Layla describing what she loves about the night. Pages later, we see a beautiful scene of Layla's mom reading her poetry in the dark. In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a shadow box to create a mini landscape to play with at night.

Grab your own copy of Layla's Happiness from the Hammer Store!

Multi-colored colored pencils displayed upright in a cardboard box. Wax paper, an open magazine, and a black Sharpie are in the foreground. Plants and a desk lamp are pictured to the right of the display.

Supplies:

  • Cardboard box
  • Box cutters
  • Scissors
  • Parchment paper (or something similar)
  • Skewers or popsicle sticks
  • Tape
  • Black sharpie
  • Black construction paper
  • Light/lamp
  • String
  • Stuff! You need small objects that fit in your box that will create interesting silhouettes. I used some plant stems, a glass bottle and extra cardboard that I cut into shapes.

Optional:

  • Color pencils or markers to decorate the box
  • Old magazines that can be used to trace and cut out interesting shapes

1. Cut a rectangular opening in the side of your box. Ask for help from your grown-up if you need it! Then, cut a piece of parchment (or wax paper) large enough to cover the opening of your box. Cover the rectangular opening with your parchment paper from the inside, using tape. This will be the front of your shadow box and will work like a screen once the lights are off.

Cardboard box with rectangle cut out in the front. Transparent paper is visible in the rectangle.

2. Cut a hole on the opposite side of the box large enough to shine your light through.

A desk lamp in the upper left hand corner. A circle the same size as the lamp is cut into one side of a cardboard box.

3. Gather various things that you want to use to create the scene in your shadow box. I grabbed my plant stems and trimmed them to different heights. I will use this to create a grassy foreground.

A green leaf plant and brown grass plant laid across a black and white grid. The brown plant is bring cut at the stem with a pair of scissors.

4. I want to create some atmosphere like rain and clouds. I cut out more parchment paper and drew raindrops. I cut out smaller pieces and crumpled them up to use as clouds.

Wax paper with short, diagonal lines drawn using black Sharpie

5. Now we need to create a little character puppet. You may use your own picture books to find an interesting character. I used an image of Layla from the book and traced her using the parchment paper. Be sure to choose an image with a nice silhouette (outline).

Outline drawing of a young girl standing with her arms up against a purple background

6. Now use the tracing paper to trace and cut out the shape with the black construction paper. Using tape I attached the wooden skewer to the back so I can easily move her around in the box.

Black silhouette of a young girl standing with both arms up displayed in the center of an open children's book

7. Begin to arrange your objects in the box. The things that are closer to the front screen will be more clear. Objects placed in the middle or the back of the box will be more obscure. I taped the plant stems inside the box at the front. I placed a glass bottle with more stems inside to make a tree-like silhouette. I suspended the parchment paper with the rain drops in the middle of the box with tape. I used string to thread the clouds and also suspended them from the top of the box. I cut out some cardboard in the shape of mountains and positioned it behind the other objects. Place your light at the hole cut out in the back.

Inside of a cardboard box with light shining through a circular hole on the left. Transparent paper with diagonal black lines hanging on the right side behind silhouette cutout.

8. Turn off the lights! Move your character around. Make additional characters if you wish. Experiment with moving things around to see how the landscape changes. Make up a story and act it out with your characters in the shadow box.

Black silhouette of a young girl standing with both arms up behind a transparent sheet, illuminated from the back.

Tag us @hammer_museum to show us what you've made! 

This project is a part of the Black Voices, Black Joy reading series co-presented with the Felipe de Neve branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. Visit the program webpage for more book titles and projects that will engage the whole family! 

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