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Making gift boxes
I went through a Christmas with no money at all and ended up giving very small presents: I was given a box of chocolates by a neighbour (for helping them with their computer) and used the last years Christmas cards to make boxes to re-pack the chocolates individually as presents for other friends and family (I figured that anything I could give would be better than nothing)!
So everyone got a little box with a chocolate in.
Since all the chocolates and most of the cards were different shapes and sizes, I wrote a computer program to help me draw the shape I needed to cut out to make the boxes. I simply typed in the Height, Width and Depth of the chocolate and put an old Christmas Card in my printer which would print the box-net onto the back of the picture.
Now I have children and they're into 'gogos' (small bits of plastic shaped as characters with special features). Some of them are 'special', so I they'd ask me to make a box for their treasures.
I realised that other parents may like to share my ability to make these little boxes, so I re-wrote my software so that it would work from a web page. It also lets you set the thickness of the card so you can make the boxes from thick corrugated card too.
Now I've got it working and put up a basic page I realise that I don't know how to let other people know about it!
So perhaps this site is a start? If you'd like to be able to make gift boxes from old cereal boxes, chocolate boxes, Christmas cards etc. (anything that'll fit through your printer) my web page is worth a try (it's free I'm not a company, just sharing).
http://tinyurl.com/BoxNetDesigner
My Box Net Designer prints four types of box (so far): two types of top and two bottoms.
It is possible to make bigger boxes, but from a normal printer you'll get boxes about the size of a pack of cards or smaller. Having said that, I've made pencil boxes etc. from large cereal packets: so it depends on what will fit through your printer.
You can easily print onto normal paper and tape that onto the card you intend cutting out. Scissor through the paper and card together and tape them together at the end of each long cut.
I've even printed onto clear plastic that was protecting my monitor when I bought it! I keep tiny drill-bits in it and it's great for seeing which one I want without them all spilling all over the place!
The 'Clicker' top is my favourite: the lid holds itself shut and makes a satisfying 'click' when you open it. It is quick and easy to open and close, but needs two tabs to be glued or double-sided sticky taped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qw61XdBaw
The 'Locker' top is a normal packaging top (like the box for a pack of cards) but with a locking tab (which you can ignore on the printed pattern if you wish) making it very smart for holding a precious present. No glue or tape is needed.
The 'Tucker' bottom is my favourite: no glue needed and it can be untucked to flat-pack the box again. It doesn't look neat from the inside, though.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-G26sRm6lSU
The 'Glued' bottom is just that; it looks neater than the Tucker bottom from the inside of the box but needs the front tab to be glued or taped.
Fold the sides in first, then the back, then glue the front tab onto the back tab. The lines on the Box Net are all at slightly different heights to make these folds very neat.
I've found a couple of tricks to help make them more easily: one is to glue or tape the main side glue-tab by folding that side flat onto the back of the box and then folding the other side down flat on top of it (the first three pictures in the above 'tucker' animation).
To show how to get the clicker to work easily, I've made a little video
which shows how it is possible to correct the sticking of the first tab if it isn't straight, and how it is possible to check if the clicker tab is folded too far down while sticking the top tabs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtxqIiS9LNY
If anyone has any suggestions for improving anything, I'll do my best.
I have more little software projects that I really ought to share, and a box that doesn't need any cuts or glue and opens like a suit-case and clicks shut - but it's proving complicated to get the net accurate, and describing how to fold it could be a nightmare :-/
But hopefully someone may get some fun out of making little boxes for Christmas!
Have fun!
So everyone got a little box with a chocolate in.
Since all the chocolates and most of the cards were different shapes and sizes, I wrote a computer program to help me draw the shape I needed to cut out to make the boxes. I simply typed in the Height, Width and Depth of the chocolate and put an old Christmas Card in my printer which would print the box-net onto the back of the picture.
Now I have children and they're into 'gogos' (small bits of plastic shaped as characters with special features). Some of them are 'special', so I they'd ask me to make a box for their treasures.
I realised that other parents may like to share my ability to make these little boxes, so I re-wrote my software so that it would work from a web page. It also lets you set the thickness of the card so you can make the boxes from thick corrugated card too.
Now I've got it working and put up a basic page I realise that I don't know how to let other people know about it!
So perhaps this site is a start? If you'd like to be able to make gift boxes from old cereal boxes, chocolate boxes, Christmas cards etc. (anything that'll fit through your printer) my web page is worth a try (it's free I'm not a company, just sharing).
http://tinyurl.com/BoxNetDesigner
My Box Net Designer prints four types of box (so far): two types of top and two bottoms.
It is possible to make bigger boxes, but from a normal printer you'll get boxes about the size of a pack of cards or smaller. Having said that, I've made pencil boxes etc. from large cereal packets: so it depends on what will fit through your printer.
You can easily print onto normal paper and tape that onto the card you intend cutting out. Scissor through the paper and card together and tape them together at the end of each long cut.
I've even printed onto clear plastic that was protecting my monitor when I bought it! I keep tiny drill-bits in it and it's great for seeing which one I want without them all spilling all over the place!
The 'Clicker' top is my favourite: the lid holds itself shut and makes a satisfying 'click' when you open it. It is quick and easy to open and close, but needs two tabs to be glued or double-sided sticky taped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qw61XdBaw
The 'Locker' top is a normal packaging top (like the box for a pack of cards) but with a locking tab (which you can ignore on the printed pattern if you wish) making it very smart for holding a precious present. No glue or tape is needed.
The 'Tucker' bottom is my favourite: no glue needed and it can be untucked to flat-pack the box again. It doesn't look neat from the inside, though.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-G26sRm6lSU
The 'Glued' bottom is just that; it looks neater than the Tucker bottom from the inside of the box but needs the front tab to be glued or taped.
Fold the sides in first, then the back, then glue the front tab onto the back tab. The lines on the Box Net are all at slightly different heights to make these folds very neat.
I've found a couple of tricks to help make them more easily: one is to glue or tape the main side glue-tab by folding that side flat onto the back of the box and then folding the other side down flat on top of it (the first three pictures in the above 'tucker' animation).
To show how to get the clicker to work easily, I've made a little video
which shows how it is possible to correct the sticking of the first tab if it isn't straight, and how it is possible to check if the clicker tab is folded too far down while sticking the top tabs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtxqIiS9LNY
If anyone has any suggestions for improving anything, I'll do my best.
I have more little software projects that I really ought to share, and a box that doesn't need any cuts or glue and opens like a suit-case and clicks shut - but it's proving complicated to get the net accurate, and describing how to fold it could be a nightmare :-/
But hopefully someone may get some fun out of making little boxes for Christmas!
Have fun!
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The boxes look good.
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