Introduction: DIY Desk Calendar and Storage - Thousand Sunny (One Piece Anime) From Paper and Cardboard

By My Page

Level up your desk setup with this Thousand Sunny ship desk calendar. Thousand Sunny is a pirate ship in the anime, One Piece. This ship will not only function as a desktop calendar but also as a storage. The body of the ship or the storage will be made of weaving paper tubes. While the top of the ship is mainly made of cardboard. Let's gather all the supplies and go!


Supplies

For this project, you are going to need:

  • Paper: I used various colored paper, but you can use a newspaper. If you use newspaper, you'll need acrylic paint to color the paper tube
  • Twigs or wire hangers
  • Cardboard: Thin and corrugated
  • Paper glue/glue stick
  • PVAc glue
  • Super glue
  • Hot glue
  • Scissors
  • Cutter
  • Quilling mold/dome mold or sphere-shaped stereo foam or any spherical object
  • Plastic straw
  • Thin wire
  • Satay skewer
  • Magnet (optional)
  • Rolling tool (I used a twig, you can also use the pre-cut wire hanger
  • Varnish/clear acrylic paint or coating spray


I used this 3D model to help me get a better image of Thousand Sunny Ship. You can also browse the Thousand Sunny ship blueprint if you want to go deeper and detail.

Step 1: Making Paper Tube

I used craft paper (also called Samson paper here in Indonesia) for this paper tube because it already has a light brown color suitable for my project. Cut the papers into some pieces as you can see in the picture. If you use the newspaper, cut a page into 6 pieces. Roll the paper using the rolling tool. Use your right thumb to roll the paper, and your left thumb to keep the paper steady. Secure the tip of the paper with the glue stick.

If you use newspaper, you might want to paint the paper rolls.

supplies: water-based acrylic; water; brush.

Prepare the water-based acrylic paint mixed with water. Brush the paint on the paper rolls, make sure to cover all of the surfaces, and wait until dry.

Step 2: The Body of the Ship

Cut a corrugated cardboard to make the base of the ship, and make two of them. I covered the base with craft paper to change the color. Place the paper tube around the cardboard base as you can see in the picture. Glue the other cardboard base on top of it, Now you have a sandwich of cardboard - paper tube - cardboard.

To make the body of the ship wider at the top, I placed a piece of cardboard that is slightly larger than the base cardboard, supported by several objects, and weighed down to maintain the stability of the cardboard.

To start weaving, join two tubes together as shown in the images just below. Bend in half and thread around the first upright. This is where it gets tricky in the explanation, but I have included a video link that may help. The process is one tube in front - one tube behind and twists around every single upright. Give this a try and you will understand what I mean.

As you weave and twist, make sure to pull the uprights up and keep the tubes nice and tight. If you need to take a break, use a bulldog clip or peg to hold everything in place. At the corners do an extra twist before you go round the corner and repeat the weave twist.

As you reach the end of a tube, take a new tube and insert the narrower end into the end of the tube you are using. Twist it so that it fits nicely and snugly inside.

To finish this weaving technique, I recommend you watch this part of the video to get a better understanding.

Then cut a rectangle shape from cardboard to make the upper part of the body. This shape will take the grip from the cap. I added this part because when I placed the cap directly on top of the weaved ship's body, the shape of the ship didn't look right. When I added this cardboard, the weaved ship body and the cap fit perfectly. Before gluing it to the weaved ship's body, make a cap measurement as I will mention in the next step. Place this part inside the body using hot glue.

Step 3: The Cap of the Body/ Container

To measure the size of this cap, I placed the weaved body of the ship (before I glued the upper cardboard rectangle) face down on a piece of paper and traced the shape. Add some cardboard inside the cap to Make sure that the cap will grip the cardboard part of the ship's body.

From this onward, every part of the ship will be glued/attached to this cap, and none to the body of the ship.

Step 4: The Front

Outside

Cut a cardboard to make some objects as you can see in the picture. I covered that cardboard using various colored paper.

to make the head of the lion, you can use a sphere-shaped stereo foam or any spherical object that you can get and cut it in half. But since I didn't have any of that, I made the head using hot glue. I used a quilling mold tool (that I usually used to make a dome shape). I spread some PVAc glue on the concave side of the dome mold. Don't forget to also spread the glue on the outer side of the dome, to assist in the process of pulling hot glue out of the mold. Reduce the air bubble of the glue as much as you can, then wait till dry. When the PVAc glue is dried, pour the hot glue inside the mold, and wait until dry. Then peel off the PVAc glue on the outer side of the dome gently so that the PVAc glue won't get torn. With this technique, I get a nice and shiny dome to make the head of the lion.

Then I apply a yellow-colored acrylic paint to the head. Make another dome shape using the above technique to make the nose and lips of the lion. Use a light yellow to color the nose-lips dome. Then add the eyes and spikes to the head as you can see in the picture. Don't forget to make the bone too.

Glue them all on the front of the cap.

Inside

On the back of the lion head part, cut this zigzag shape from cardboard. Make sure the upper part (the curved shape) will fit into the back shape of the front part of the ship (if that makes sense). Cover it with colored paper as you can see in the picture. Cut a fence from paper, then add the fence to this part.

Step 5: The Side

Cut a circle from cardboard. I glued some paper tubes on top of it to create lines resembling the arrangement of wooden boards. Cut another circle with a hole in the center, and glue it down on the paper tubes. Cut another shape from cardboard as you can see in the picture. Add the number "1" to the part. Then place this part on both sides of the cap

Step 6: The Back

On the side of the cap, add a cardboard strip to the cap as you can see in the picture. Use black paper to color it. Add light brown on top of the black to match the hallway of the actual Thousand Sunny Ship. Glue the fence and a thin white paper strip on the outer of the black cardboard strip.

On the top of the cap, add another cardboard strip, and glue it to the outer side of the cap (if that makes sense). Add another cardboard to cover this part, and then cover it with colored paper, and don't forget to glue the fence around it.

Then for the building on top of the previous one, make a cube-like shape, with a curved corner as you can see in the picture. Make a hole in the cardboard for the second mast, and don't forget to ensure that the mast will fit the hole.. Cover the cardboard with red and cream color. On the top of the red color, add a light brown colored rectangle. Cut the hole from the colored paper.

I decided to make this part (the cube for the second mast) to be detachable from the ship and stand alone. So I glued a magnet under the cube and on the ship as you can see in the picture (for this part I should have glued the magnet before covering it with paper). Then I covered it using paper. Now I can detach this second mast from the ship. I also didn't glue the mast to the hole in the cube, for detachable purposes.

After that add a fence around the light brown rectangle on top of the cube as you can see in the picture.

Step 7: The Mast

I used a long lollipop stick and a satay skewer as the foundation of the mast. Then I covered it using cardboard to add the volume. The mast's volume will get thinner at the top. Then I cover the mast wit brown paper. Don't forget to make two of them. Then glue both masts.

Step 8: Calendar Mechanism

Prepare the paper that will be used as the calendar. Make sure the size will fit the length of the plastic straw. Add a double tape to the paper, place a satay skewer on the double tape, then roll it. Cut the plastic straw to make an opening of the sliding calendar. Use a needle to make two small holes in the center of the straw. Use a thin wire to make a hook by inserting it into the small holes. Arrange the remaining wire inside the straw so it won't interrupt the paper later. Now slide the paper into the paper straw. I made two of them since the ship has two((towers)).

You can design and print your calendar easily. You can add the pirate logo like the actual Thousand Sunny Ship and make it transparent behind the dates. The other calendar (behind) you can use as the next month's calendar or even customized quotes to show on your desk setup.

Step 9: Coating

For the body (weaving paper) from the tutorial I found, they used a varnish (glossy or doff) to coat the woven paper. It makes the paper more rigid and stronger. I think the varnish would not be suitable for the other part of the ship, because it might wrinkle the paper. So I decided to coat my ship using clear acrylic paint.

Step 10: Final Thoughts

For me, this project is one of the most adventurous projects so far. So many ideas suddenly popped out along the process. This is the third attempt at making this ship. The first and second one was in 2022 and 2023. But it is only up to the body's making, which is why I don't quite like it because the storage must be divided into some small compartments to make the body rigid. Now it's different since I made the body with weaving technique, which is stronger than the body made of full cardboard and now it's easier to shape.

The final result was far from perfect, but perfection is not the main goal. I enjoyed the process, even writing this instructable. I hope you will enjoy this project as much as I do.

Thank you for reading this ible until the end, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this project, don't hesitate to post a comment below, or DM me on Instagram.

If you are interested in anime and this project, you might be interested in the Going Merry ship from quilled papers that I made in the previous ible

As always, I will be posting some video footage on my Instagram @quinzyvarira

See you on the next ible!