Just Because I Can.

Sometimes, you do things just because you can - and because it's (hopefully) fun. 

For two decades now, I've been part of a group of friends that meets once a year to do some book-binding, or related crafting. Each has their own stuff and tools and materials, and each has their own specialities and favourite tasks, and there's exchange of materials and ideas, and lending of tools (and sometimes hands), and a lot of friendly banter.

My typical agenda for each of these meetings is to make (at least) one document wallet, and (at least) one box. I like to make these, they are practical, and they also make very nice presents for deserving people. (There's quite a bit of work going into them, so they are not small presents, and I only give them to folks that I know will appreciate them.) 

One of the box types I like to make is a simple sort-of-brick-shaped one that can be scaled rather easily, and the cutting pattern I've worked out is handy to use up smaller bits of cardboard. You measure the width of your piece, divide that by 3 to get your magic number X, and if the length of the cardboard piece is 4X or more, you're good, and X will be your basis for cutting all the cardboard parts and all the cover papers.

Well. Sometimes the bits of cardboard that are left over are small. Quite small. So I made some tiny boxes the last years... and this time, I sort of wanted to know how low you can go, so to say.

The result? I've come to the conclusion that this is about it. My X, which equals the height of the pieces cut to form the box, and the width of the smaller side, was 7.7 mm. The cardboard was 1.5 mm in thickness - that's why the box looks higher in relation to its size than others made after the same pattern, but in a more sensible size.

I made it just like a proper large one, with outer covers, inner covers, and a nice lid with an inset so it will sit firmly on the box. It will accommodate a large grain of rice (several, in fact, if you stack them on top of each other) or a not-too-large dead fly (which was the running joke, as I called the larger version I made last time the fly sarcophagus).

I've had fun making this, and now I have a delightfully useless tiny little box. Ideas on what to do with it are very welcome!