The inner side of the process or how playing cards are made. Amazing structures made from playing cards

Do you know how to build a house of cards from ordinary playing cards without using glue or other additional means? It is a unique art form that requires constant practice, the ability to focus and the desire for perfection.

The Guinness Book of World Records has recorded cases of houses of cards being built 30 feet or more in height. The current record belongs to Brian Berg, an architect by profession and a house-of-cards builder by passion. He holds records in the sections “Tallest House of Cards” - a copy of the Dallas Skyline (8.53 m) and “House of Cards Built from the Largest Number of Cards” - a card copy of the Venetian Hotel in Macau, consisting of 4000 decks. Amazing, isn't it?

If you, inspired by Berg’s feat, have also decided to master the art of constructing buildings from cards, then just continue reading the article and learn the basic techniques for constructing houses of cards.

All you need from consumables is a deck of cards (or several, if you decide to immediately conquer heights) and nothing else. If you like to play cards with friends, then you can find a deck in your home. Then simply follow our instructions, step by step.

Step 1: Start with a Base
Where does building a house of cards begin? Of course, from the base, which acts as the foundation of our future construction, making it stable. To do this, you need to take two cards and place them so that they look like “/\”. The distance between the far ends of the card should be about 4-5 cm. The number of such blanks in the base depends on the expected height of your house of cards. Approach the process of your creativity logically - each subsequent row will be exactly one blank less than the bottom one. Once you've finished installing the base, place a row of cards on it horizontally. Your base is ready.

Step 2: Building the floors
Once you've finished working on the base, start building the next row. We take two cards again and place them according to the pattern of the base blanks. Now you need to be extremely careful not to destroy the result of your work. Each subsequent row will be one piece less than the previous one. For example, if your base consists of four pairs of cards, the first floor will be of three, the second of two and the last, third of one. That's it, your house of cards is ready. By the way, if you are already ready for serious projects and houses, then perhaps you will be interested in a smart home; registration on the Russian website is quick and you can immediately begin to familiarize yourself with the possibilities of miracle houses.

It was pretty simple, wasn't it? And the tips that are outlined below will make the process of building a house of cards even easier.

Tips for building a house of cards
You can use standard decks of cards, but for training it is better to use a non-new deck. Game Used cards are a little easier to work with as they are not as smooth and easier to install.
Choose a place without drafts, since any blow of wind can destroy your house of cards.
A sharp exhalation can also nullify all efforts.
The table without a tablecloth on which you sit should not be smooth.
During the learning process, you can lightly wet the edges of the cards.
Last but not least, be patient!

The smallest house of cards in the world

Thus, you will agree that if you follow the instructions, the process of building a house of cards becomes easy, fast and simple. Start with small buildings and gradually move to taller ones. As you gain experience, you can move on to mastering other techniques for building card houses. Build skyscrapers, stadiums and even domes. Good luck to you!

No glue, no tape, no paper clips - card sculptor Brian Berg builds his stunning sculptures solely by selecting the ideal position and determining the center of gravity. It's just some kind of magic, nothing less! But he makes the cards obey him, not move or fall, and thus builds skyscrapers, palaces, fortresses and even a miniature Olympic village.

House of Cards from Leeds University

Alas, it was not possible to find out who exactly was the author of the stunning balancing house made of playing cards that appeared at Leeds University during the Fine Art Degree Show back in 2006. But it is clear that the cards had a hard time - in order to build this entire structure and not allow it to crumble, the craftsmen cut the edges of their paper “bricks” and thus fastened them into one whole.

Flying alligator from Shanghai

It is difficult to say, looking at the photographs, how exactly the Shanghai craftsmen made this beast, how many hundreds of decks they spent on its “construction” and how the cards were actually attached to each other. One thing is clear: in order to build a flying alligator, the team of creators needed to gather all their Chinese perseverance and stock up on remarkable patience - this is such a delicate and painstaking work.

Card art by Lisa Curtis

And this work, although not a sculpture, but an installation, or, as the author, Lisa Curtis, calls it, a card collage, also deserves close attention. For this collage, the girl had to “ruin” several dozen decks, carefully bending the corners and arranging the resulting compositions according to colors and sizes. It turned out, perhaps, not as large-scale as the previous authors, but also quite interesting.

Maps first appeared in the Middle Ages. The main countries in whose chronicles they are mentioned are China, India, Asia, and Korea. They appeared in Europe much later and were not widely used at first, as they were subject to constant bans. Especially from the church.

Then they were made from different materials, from stone to papyrus. Today there are simply a lot of options for how cards are made. Let's look at the most common modern materials for deck production.

Paper (cardboard).
Plastic
Vinyl.

Cardboard playing cards

The most common and cheapest raw material in this area. Cardboard decks are made using three main technologies:

lithography is a method of flat printing, which is based on the physical and chemical process of obtaining an impression from a stone and the absorption of special lithographic ink;
photolithography is a method of obtaining a given pattern on the surface of the desired material (includes several complex technological processes: electrodeposition, etching, vacuum deposition, sandblasting);
intaglio printing (another name for intaglio) – the use of a special printing form to obtain an image and print.

The main raw material component in the production of paper pictures is the polymer cellulose acetate. This is a thin polymer film that goes through all three stages of processing, is laminated and turned into a playing card.

It is important! Paper maps are undoubtedly cheaper. However, their quality is not very high, and they quickly wear out and become unusable.

Making a deck from plastic

The technology is the same as for paper maps. Only the raw material component, the polymer cellulose acetate, is covered with a dense layer of plastic on top, which makes the product more beautiful and reliable. They no longer wrinkle, become deformed and get dirty. They practically do not rub off and last a long time. But their cost is an order of magnitude higher than paper ones.

It is important! The thicker the layer of plastic on the cards, the more expensive and better quality they are.

Making cards from vinyl material

The most common cards for home use due to their wide availability. The manufacturing process repeats the previously described stages. Raw material: vinyl. The result is as follows: the cards are quite durable and inexpensive, but they are very easy to damage due to mechanical stress.

Are you wondering how to build a house of cards? In this master class we will talk in detail about the entire system of creating houses from playing cards! There are several options for creating a house of cards. The classic method, which you can see in many movies or cartoons, is based on creating a solid base of three cards. This base strongly resembles a pyramid. However, numerous experts follow a different system of building a house of cards, creating a base not of three cards, but of four. Thus, they form the strongest foundation for difficult and large buildings.

Method one: triangular house

This is a classic house of cards that everyone can notice in a cinematic project. It is a complex and extremely stable system. You need to place playing cards in triangles, thus forming a pyramid.

First stage

Fold the first triangle (pyramid). This kind of “house” is considered the frame of the entire pyramid. Place two playing cards together to form an upside down "V". The tops of both cards must be connected, while the lower parts must stand directly parallel to each other. First, practice installing such pyramids separately so as not to accidentally destroy your buildings. Thus, after creating a significant number of similar pyramids, you will get one large house of cards.

Second stage: determine the height

We continue to create the pyramids that were described in the first stage. We will need a sufficient number of playing cards, but the number of pyramids depends on how large the house of cards you want to make. There should be a distance between the tops of the pyramids equal to one playing card. The number of triangles at the base sets the likely height of your house of cards: any subsequent floor will contain fewer pyramids at its base. For example, if your base has three pyramids at its base, then the entire house will consist of three floors. By building a base of six pyramids, you will have more space and the opportunity to build as many as six floors. With such a geometric progression, a house of cards can grow.

Try first to create the simplest house, at the base of which there will be only three pyramids. Don't forget, to learn how to build a house of cards, you need to read to the end!

Remember to rest the new card pyramid against the base of a nearby pyramid. As a result, you will have the strongest possible foundation for your future house.

Third stage: covering the pyramids

Carefully place one card on top of the first and second pyramids. Installation should be done carefully, try not to touch or destroy the pyramids. The scheme must be perfectly balanced with the tops strengthened in this way. Then place another card on top of the second and third pyramid. And now you have the simplest base of three pyramids, closed on top with two playing cards. In total, we only needed eight playing cards.

Stage four: next floor

How to build a house of cards next? We are building the next floor. If your base consists of three pyramids, then the next floor will consist of only two. Try to place the first pyramid of two cards with extreme care, touching the tips of the tops of the first and second pyramids of the first floor. It would be best to take one card in both hands and, connecting them with their tops, simultaneously place them in their place. Place the second pyramid on the second floor in the same way. Once this step is successfully completed, all that remains is to place one overlapping card on the tops of the second floor.

Only five cards were needed to build the second floor of our house of cards.

Be very careful. If you succeeded in installing the second floor, this means that the foundation is strong enough. And it can be saved for the future for more magnificent and complex buildings. However, remember to watch your movements. After all, you can accidentally snag and collapse the entire house of cards at any moment. Place the remaining cards with extreme accuracy and “airiness” in your movements.

Having completed the construction of the second floor, you will receive a pyramid consisting of 13 playing cards: five pyramids and three floors. But how do you build a house of cards with 36 cards? It’s very simple, you just need to add twice as many pyramids to the base.

Fifth stage: adding a top

In order to completely complete our construction of the house of cards, we still need to build the top. It consists of one single pyramid (two cards). Slowly and carefully install the two cards onto the single card covering the second floor. Take your time and hold them until they are stable on the bottom card. As soon as this happens, you can remove your hands. But only if you are absolutely sure that the top will not immediately fall, destroying the remaining floors of your house of cards. If everything worked out, you can congratulate yourself on the successful construction of a house of cards! Our master class entitled “How to make a house of cards” is coming to an end; you can make a whole mansion out of 36 cards! Try it and don't be afraid to experiment with the number of cards.

Method two: building cubes

This method may be considered more stable, but then a much larger number of cards will be required to create a house of cards. It will no longer be possible to create a house of cards from 36. The entire construction of floors follows the same principle as in the first method. Only here it is no longer necessary to build pyramids, but cubes consisting of four playing cards. Many experts choose this particular method of building card houses.

I hope that you have found the answer to your question: “How to build a house out of cards?”