a new, bigger, crazier oven!

What you'll need:
- a bunch of large cardboard boxes (I got mine from dymocks)
- aluminium foil
- glad wrap
- scissors
- stanley knife & cutting board & metal ruler
- non toxic glue and tape
- heavy duty masking tape
- black construction paper
- double sided tape
- newspaper

What to do:
Tape together the bottom of your box (if it is not already sealed) with the heavy duty masking tape.


Draw around the bottom of your box onto another piece of cardboard. This is to create an even bottom surface for the box.


Cut out using your stanley knife, a centimetre or two inside the lines you have drawn.


Place the piece securely in the bottom of you box. You may need to make a few adjustments to get it to fit (I did).


Be wary of curious kittens who like to eat cardboard. They may attack your box. Mine did (multiple times).

Place black construction paper on the bottom of your box leaving a border. I used an A3 size piece which was perfectly sized for my box.

Cut 4 pieces of cardboard to fit snugly around the black construction paper, forming a smaller box. If you happen to have a smaller box that fits in perfectly then you can save yourself a bit of time.


Cover the insides of your smaller box with aluminium foil. I stuck the pieces of cardboard together will double sided tape so they will stay snugly in place.


Stuff the gaps between the two boxes with crumpled newspaper.

This next bit - making your plastic cover - is kind of tricky. I had to improvise a fair bit here. I think what i have devised is pretty good but I wonder if there would be a better solution, I do worry that a bit of heat can escape.. I joined two pieces of cardboard with glad wrap (I cut off 1 of the side flaps on the box and then cut it in half). These two bits slot in at either end of the inside box (vertically). It is a little bit hard to see but the second picture shows it better. I then made another one of these (also using a side flap) to fit horizontally across the box to help hold the first layer down tight. So basically, these things can be pulled out and roller around eachother when putting food in the box/taking it out and also when the box is not in use. Hopefully further photos of the box in action will better demonstrate what i have done.

Cut another large piece of cardboard to form your reflective shield. Cover it in aluminium foil and then tape it to the remaining horizontal flap using the masking tape.

And then i chucked in a scrap piece of cardboard to use a prop for the shield so it stays up.
And that is how this oven is made!
Credit to eHow.com for this link which gave me the base idea for this box : http://www.ehow.com/how_2083_make-solar-oven.html