Tuesday, May 5, 2009

SIMPLE CADDY BASKET




I am back after the next bout of illness. It is literally a pain being well past the middle aged bracket.






Here are photos of a caddy basket which is related to the Easter Baskets of the last posting. Most of them have the decorative end foldings on the inside of the box rather than the outside. The handles are modified for this contigency.









The blue and yellow basket is now owned by the person who also owns the hand holding it. It was made to match her choice of basket variation and in her choice of colors.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

EASTER BASKETS - 2





Here are the crease patterns for the rectangular paper version of the Easter Basket.

The side wall V-creases have been omitted. You can add them if you wish. They help to shape the basket better when the handle is added but the model will function perfectly well without them.














The handle part is made from a piece of copy sized paper which has been cut in half width-wise (not length-wise). A half sheet of American Letter paper is thus 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches which is a little over a half square (which would be 8-1/2 x 5-1/4). When you make the diamond patterns on the handle be aware that the central diamonds are not at 45 degree angles like the diamonds at the ends. This is because the squarish sections on either side of the central crease are actually not squares.









In a day or so I will post patterns and pictures for a caddy version of the basket made from the traditional square with an edge-on handle made from a half square.

EASTER BASKETS

Here are some Easter Baskets.

They are made from two pieces of paper: a full sheet for the box and a half sheet for the handle. Three sheets of paper will thus make two baskets.

The creases in the handle may be folded in slightly different ways to create different looks. There are two different end plugs: one is diamond shape and the other fits the shape of the box when the apex is folded down to form a blunt edge instead of a point. See the darker pink basket for an example. Both are very sturdy but the second is exceptionally sturdy.

There are two slightly different designs, one for both the traditional square (see the copy paper pink version) and for rectangular copy paper (see the copy paper blue version and the pink petalic paper versions). The box made with the square has decorative pleats at both ends which act of runners on the base of the box. Use this one to hold heavy things. The handle on this one is longer than the handle of the rectangular version and is folded slightly differently. See the copy paper pink version for an example.

I will upload crease patterns for the rectangular copy paper in my next post.




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

SLOTTED BOX TOWER - 2












Here are the Crease Patterns for the Slotted Box Tower.

Start with a 9" square for the lid.

Make the wall shields about 8-1/2" to 8-3/4" wide by 12- 1/2" to 12-3/4" long, depending on the thickness of the paper you are using.

Make the slotted boxes 8" x 16".

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

SLOTTED BOX TOWER


While working on display models of the Bounce and Tier Box I developed another idea.



























The new model is a modular set of boxes which slot into a backer frame at three levels. The frame is then wrapped around the boxes, secured at the front, and topped with a lid.

Crease patterns will follow.

I expect to post photos of the completed Bounce and Tier Box Series and their associated crease patterns shortly.

There is also a couple of simple Wallet and/or Envelopes in the works.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

THE FIVE MINUTE SQUASH-IT BOX






While sitting in a doctor's office waiting for an xray I discovered another method of making a collapsible box that can be transported in a pocket, purse or handbag. This one uses an American Letter sized sheet of paper and takes only five minutes to fold - provided this is not the first time you are making it.









It took me a morning to work the problems out of the design and an afternoon to design a lid to fit it. The lid is a little more complicated and takes correspondingly longer to fold it. Come back next week for a better estimate.




Instead of the usual Crease Pattern, I have uploaded some basic folding instructions for the base. Due to drawing complexity, these provide a slightly different folding sequence than the one I actually use. You will, however, end up with the same result. Once you have folded one you will probably find your own set of short cuts and accuracy enhancers.


I will work on a folding sequence for the lid tomorrow and will probably post a crease pattern for it over the weekend.


















UPDATE ON THE BOUNCE AND TIER BOX SET


I am still working on the Bounce and Tier Box. It is quite a large project because it has so many sections. I am making one set from coordinated 50lb text copy paper and another set from much heavier 80lb text Stardream Metallic paper. The Stardream is harder to fold but the superior results are worthwhile.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

BOUNCE BOX and TIER BOX



The past few days have been spent developing a modular hexagonal box which bounces and a related modular hexagonal box which stacks but does not bounce.

The two box types can be combined, in various combinations, to form a tier box which bounces. The combination model can even be connected near the base to form strings of boxes or hexagonal "circles" of tiered boxes.

The photo shows one way of connecting the sections. It is a photo of the rough proto-type models so don't look for perfection. Expect to see crumple, because it is certainly there! Designing a model generally results in a lot of messy models before the final version is reached. Unless you are Robert Lang, of course.

There are six sheets of paper used for each of the several sections.

Almost all of the starting sheets are half squares, that is, rectangles with a 2:1 ratio. The patterns can be printed onto paper via an ordinary computer printer. The limitation here is that the largest piece can be no taller than the length between the minimum printer margins at the top and bottom of a page. This translates to a box with a diameter of about 4½ inches.

The sections stack inside or around each other. Lids become bases to accommodate stems. Stems end in boxes which accommodate other boxes and/or lids.

There are two lid styles. One is an overlay style, the other fits flush with a base box but overlays an inlay box. One of the two lid styles is being used as the base for an extension tier in the photographed example while the other is on top of the model.

The box wobbles from the base. The wobble part is obscured in the photograph which was taken from the top to show the lid decoration.

It will be several days before all the problems of its construction are resolved at which point I will make it with a variety of colored papers which will better demonstrate the modular and the sectional construction. Then I will post the Crease Patterns for each model of each section.

There are several sections which are not shown in the photo. One inlay box style is still in design infancy. Two other inlay styles were stackers which were not photographed because there insufficient lids to accommodate them. Photos of these will be posted in blog postings to come.

This is a fun box which, nevertheless, has practical applications.