Material selection
I would like to dwell separately on the choice of paper.Have you been to a stationery store lately? Well, pay attention to how many different types of cardboard are offered to choose from. In addition to classic colored paper or cardboard, you will be surprised by fluorescent, corrugated, glossy, velvet, themed, with applied artistic ornaments and many, many other types of materials for creativity. Advice for those who are just starting to do creative crafts. Almost every city has art stores offering a variety of materials for handicrafts made with your own hands. What you will not find there: paints for stained glass, craquelure compositions, photo frames, canvases, professional brushes, pencils, crayons. Many different thematic templates, stickers and much more. Having visited this store, you will be able to make all sorts of gifts, crafts and decorative things with your own hands. You can also use all sorts of accessories to decorate the box: beautiful buttons, rhinestones, ribbons, swan's down, cut out flowers, hearts, colored stickers, etc. So, in order to make beautiful packaging with your own hands, you need to look into your child's desk drawer, rummage through your own boxes, and you will definitely find "designer" trinkets.
Templates
Actually make a box with your own handsfrom paper - there is no big trick. To do this, you just need to learn how to draw templates. And then, using your imagination, you can change the configuration of the packaging as you like. For your information, we will add that boxes can have four sides: multi-faceted, conical, pyramidal, figured, flat, cascading, with a separate lid or without it, and so on - who is good at what. Below we will provide a diagram of the simplest box with a lid. Please note that you can adjust the size of the sides yourself, while maintaining the proportions of the sides. By the way, we recommend cutting this template out of thick paper and using it later instead of a pattern. You can also draw the diagram sequentially directly on the finished material, but we still recommend that you try to make a box out of ordinary writing paper first. So, take cardboard and draw a rectangle or square on it (depending on the shape and size of the gift). Next, draw rectangles to each side of the figure with a width corresponding to the required height of the box (these will be the sides). Then, on two opposite side edges from the width side, you need to draw more rectangles that will serve as a place for joining the sides of the box. The edges of these "wings" need to be cut at an angle of 45 °. Well, that's it, it remains to bend the cardboard at the folds and glue all the edges. In a similar way, we make a lid from thick paper or cardboard. However, it is necessary to take into account that the lid should be slightly wider than the box itself, so draw the base two to three millimeters larger. And the edges of the lid can be of any width. It is up to you how deeply the lid will be put on the box. By showing diligence and turning on your imagination, you will succeed, and you will get a beautiful festive paper box made with your own hands. Using a square at the base of the box and drawing triangular edges to it, you will get a box without a lid in the form of a pyramid. At the top of the package, you need to make small round holes and, having threaded a ribbon through them, secure it with a beautiful knot. Just remember: the gift needs to be placed in the pyramid before gluing the sides. We recommend another template for a paper box, which you can also make yourself. Please note that in this version, the lid is inseparable from the box and is provided right on the pattern. And you can always replace the heart-shaped figures with something else, for example, a petal and a leaf. Cut out the template, and all you have to do is make folds along the lines, glue the edges and the base of the box.
History of the Chinese box
We want to tell you an interesting fact fromlife of boxes for Chinese food. Surely many of you have already come across such original packaging. And it is not for nothing that this box has already conquered almost the entire world. Firstly, paper is a natural environmentally friendly material. Secondly, food in a Chinese box stays hot for a long time. Thirdly, it is convenient to eat from such packaging both at home and in a park on a bench or on a lawn in company. Fourthly, if desired, you can leave uneaten food for later, carefully closing the box. However, the birthplace of the universal paper box was not China, but America. Back in the early twentieth century, cleaned oysters were sold in such packages in port cities. This was a breakthrough in the service of ready-made products to go. However, over time, oysters became an expensive delicacy, and a crisis would have come for box manufacturers if they had not paid attention to the ever-increasing demand for Chinese food among the large number of migrants from Asia. Thus, thanks to its cheapness and unusual taste, Chinese food has won a leading position among fast foods. And the box has become its integral attribute and truly practical packaging. You can also make such a box. As well as many others that you can make with your own hands. To begin with, you need to make one test box, the second will make you fantasize, and the third will fully reveal your creative potential. Be sure to involve children in creativity, they think much more broadly than adults and come up with incredible names for their crafts. Prepare packages for future use, and you will always have something to take with you when visiting. We are sure that you will be able to surprise not only those around you, but also yourself with the original decor of your products.
