Meet Yslabelle (ees-la-bell). Seen here alongside Joy, who worked for the brand “YSL” that produced these stunning boxes. By saving them from the skip, we were able to salvage enough after one year to start the project. 800 boxes to be precise.
Every box had to be filled with a filler foam and ends stuck down to improve their strength. Recycled cardboard tubing was used to form the rigid skeleton, which is jointed at the waist.
There was no plan drawn, but the design was loosely based on Gundam style robots. The boxes were stuck with a combo of hot melt glue for the initial fast stick, and an industrial building adhesive that comes in a cartridge. This adheres particularly well to the shiny surfaces.
Building up the structure from the feet first, box by box, there was a wide variety of sizes to chose from! These would have boxed lipsticks, perfumes, face creams, touche eclat, eyeliners and assorted other products, of which you may be familiar if you own one yourself.
Pops of purple were added, along with a few product lids. The sword is crafted from gloss Volupte, mascaras and touche eclat, while the head is motorized, turning left and right.
So that’s our Yslabelle, standing at a dazzling 2m tall. We have grown quite fond of Yslabelle, we exhibited her at Maker Faire last year, and we are excited to now be installing her in a permanent home at the extraordinary museum of robots, opening late 2018 in Milton Keynes.
You can watch the build progress on the video below.