EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE: The Cardboard Creator

November 25, 2015

Daniel Seamans,

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Author Patricia Ryan Madson wrote, “Trust your imagination. There is always something in the box.”

Imagination, creativity and vision are qualities that lead to greatness. Dylan Craig is on that path. “The Cardboard Creator” is our Extraordinary Person of the Week.

We first met Dylan Craig a couple weeks back when we aired a costume he made.

The creativity had us curious about this talented young man, so we invited him to our studio to learn more.

“Cardboard and duct tape,” Dylan said of the two key components to his creative ways.

“It actually doesn’t take too long,” he said of making a costume. “It takes around three days to build this stuff. I had the blue prints drawn out on an index card.”

Dylan says he’s made about a dozen transforming outfits. The latest is a SWAT truck showcasing his interest in law enforcement.

“It took like four or five rolls of black duct tape and maybe one or two of white,” he said.

When he’s wearing it, he can transform from shield wielding robot into an armored SWAT truck, and the next could be even better.

“I’ve been thinking of getting into some basic wiring,” Dylan said. “So on future designs, I could have flashing lights.”

And to think, it all started with a creative mind, cardboard and duct tape.

“When we saw it, when he executed it, at first we were like, ‘Yeah, son. OK. Sure,” Dylan’s mom Ana said. “And then when he did it, it blew our minds.”

Blowing our minds is what could be on the horizon for this cardboard creator.

“I watched the movie ‘Bat Kid’ last week, so I was like, ‘I want to start volunteering for the Make-a-Wish Foundation,'” Dylan said.

He’s already paid it forward once. When the original winner of a StarNews Halloween costume decided to pass the contest prize to him for his cool costume, Dylan paid it forward. He made a pint-sized version of his costume for Lilianna, the original winner. Her grandparents, who live in the Cape Fear, chose to give the $50 gift card prize to Dylan.