Okay, bear with me here, I built this thing, and I am using it, but I could have built it about a thousand different ways. I will not give you the complete step by step because half of the fun lies in the creativity. I am merely giving you an example of what you can do. Lets gets started.

Material list

1. 1 sq. yard of cloth (I used muslin from Wal-Mart)
2. 4 pieces of 30" by 15" foam board (I got it at Hobby Lobby for $1.54 each)
3. Ribbon ($1 at Hobby Lobby)
4. staple gun or heavier duty stapler
5. 5' velcro tape ($8.67 at Lowes -- I didn't even use half of it)
6. 500w work light ($9.99 at Lowes)
7. 3/4" MDF (have it cut at lowes, you only need a small amount, like 8" X 6", this is about $4)
8. L brackets (.75 cents each, need two, again, Lowes)

Total? Something like $30. You can get more expensive velcro and better stuff, but this is basically it. Also, I already had a tripod, but you can get one for about $10 (we are only using it as a general mount anyways).

Take your piece of 3/4" MDF and make a base plate that will onto your tripod.

Drill a hole into the mount and screw in your tripod shoe mount

(I eventually had to screw holes into this and screw this thing *into* the wood)

This is the 10 dollar flood light from Lowes

Install light to mount, add L brackets

Add top and bottom MDF mounts to keep the heat of the lamp off of everything

Take the foam boad and cut a pentagon shape (you can choose the size, depending on how large you want your softbox)

I wanted this to be mobile so I used tent poles and ribbon to make sure that I could weave this box together and take it apart easily

Close of the ribbon action

Here is the box together on top of the cloth that will be the front of the box (I used duct tape I had lying around to make sure the ribbons are secure)

Here is the sheet all put together with velcro 

Here is the completed box up on the mount

This is the front of the soft box

Here is the soft box turned on (it is pretty large)

I hope that you all liked this demonstration of making a soft box. As you can see, this is easy stuff, and it is hard to do it wrong. If you *happen* to do it wrong, then keep building and see if it turns out. Remember, you are only shining directed light through a cloth. 

Thanks!

Ryan Keeter