Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Christmas in August - Gift Box Tutorial

Yesterday I thought about the packaging of my earrings. I mean, August is almost over and you can't be too early thinking about christmas and a nice way of wrapping your goodies.
I wanted something that looks good, protects the jewellery from damage and doesn't cost too much. Finally I stumbled upon a little origami box. I guess, many of you have seen this box somewhere over the web.
The good thing about is, that you can vary the size according of what you want to put inside. But I didn't like the fact, that it doesn't really look like a jewellery box. The walls are too high which also means that I'd have to use a bigger envelop for shipping. So I wrecked my brain to find a way to make this box but with nicer walls. And after some experiments it worked!


As I really like the result I thought I'd share my wisdom with you an and let you know how I made them. So here's what you have to do:

What you need:
Scissors
A Bone folder
A Ruler
2 square pieces of paper (One needs to be slightly smaller than the other)

What to do:

1. Remove the dog from your desk.

2. Take a piece of paper and cut a square. Use your guillotine if your have one (Mine was a christmas present my boyfriend gave me - The man knows what a girl wants!).
3. Fold from point to point in half. Then fold in half again from point to point. If you chose rather thicker paper or cardboard (as I did) use a bone folder or ruler for this.

4. Now take all four corners and fold to center.
5. Leave the corners closed and fold all sides to the center.
6. Open it. It should now look like this:
7. Turn the paper around. The four squares in in the center will be the lid of your box. I marked mine with a pen. Now cut towards the marked square as shown.
8. Take a pen and draw lines as shown on the sides that are parallel to the cuts you made.
9. Cut along the lines. The result should look like this:
10. Take the pen again and draw two lines on each of the remaining sides as shown. Cut along the lines.
11. Fold one side in half so it touches the square you marked before. Unfold again and to the same thing with the other three sides.

12. You made all the necessary folds and cuts! Now you have to put the box together. Therefor take one of the long sides and fold them as shown in the picture. Then do the same thing with the other long side. You should have two points touching inside and the short tabs sticking out.
13. Now fold the two tabs in to create the remaining sides. All points should be at the bottom of the box touching with no overlap. If the do overlap take a piece of masking tape and stick it in the center of the box. And that‘s it! You just finished the lid of your box.
14. To make the bottom of the box repeat steps 1-13. But remember that the paper needs to be slightly smaller (3-4mm) than the first one. È voilà - a pretty origami box with small walls! Perfect for all kinds of little gifts or the earrings by Smile Molecules. :-D

4 comments:

  1. Your boyfriend was brave giving you a guillotine for Christmas! And yes, removing dog from desk was a wise move!

    I've seen a few people try making their own boxes, and a friend trying to make one because in Switzerland there is a 2cm rule before the price of postage goes skyrocket. In Germany, your package must be under 1cm before everything you send out becomes 6 Euros to send worldwide. Below 1 cm it's 1.70 Euros I think.

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  2. Germany has the 2cm rule as well. I tried making them smaller but than they are relly fragile and don't protect the earrings as well. So I guess I'll have to live with the price.

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  3. a bit of a "Grrrrr" there to know how the price jumps just like that....

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  4. Love your customization! Looks like this fits your needs nicely.

    Also wanted to say thanks so much for your submission to The Gifted Blog Flickr pool! Really appreciate your contribution to our little gallery. Look forward to seeing more of your gift wrapping projects!

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