Monday, December 24, 2007

A Box of Our Own

I've been working on a lot of electronics projects lately.  The new DSCN5762programmer I bought recently is called a Dragon.  It comes in a really cool box, but it's a cardboard box.  I wanted a better case for it, but something that would still convey "Dragon".  To make the box, I bought a wood box such as this one. 

Using white glue (Modge Podge glue), a paintbrush, and some really cool, textured red cardstock I covered the box with the paper.  The results are really great, although it's difficult to tell in the picture.  My wife suggested using the ribbon trim.  The inside lip around the box is finished in gold metalic paint, which accentuates the dragon theme.

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The dragon box was cool, but there was a new challenge.  What to get a 16 year old young man for Christmas.  Something positive, cool, and unique.  A trip through the Hip-Hop section at Barnes and Noble presented a great opportunity.  A book of poems by Tupac Shakur called Rose That Grew from Concrete.  Next time you're at the book store, find the book and thumb through it.  You may be surprised.

Anyway, what to do about adding a unique twist to this gift?  As my wife and I strolled through Michael's, it came to me.  What about a custom wooden box to book the book in?  Something unique, yet thematically aligned with the book?  The result is the box below.  It was made just like the one above, but instead of using paper, it is covered with a bandana.  There are a couple layers of paper over the wood, then the bandana.  Each time the glue dried, a carefully applied utility knife opened it back up.  This created very smooth, tight seams between halves of the box.

 DSCN5767In this picture, looking down on the box at an angle, you can see how the pattern wraps around the top of the box, and runs down the sides.

On the inside cover of the box, some words of wisdom from Tupac.

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