Thursday, June 18, 2015

Minecraft Part: Chests

This is a Minecraft Chest:

It's for storing a player's inventory (or stash, for us fabric-hoarding crafting people)

We made cardboard ones for the party

They were very easy - I made 15 in about 3 hours (with lunch in between).

Here's how:

Start with a rectangle that's made of 6 squares. Each square will be one face of the chest. Our chests were 6" x 6" x 6" so our rectangle was 12" x 18".

Cut the rectangle apart like this, into two equal halves.


Score and fold each half along the dividing lines.

Hot-glue edge-to-edge to make a closed cube.

Cut a line 1-1/2" down from the top face, along three adjoining side faces, as shown, to separate the top portion into a lid. 

Lightly score a line 1-1/2" from the top face on the fourth adjoining face. The lid will bend along this line as a natural hinge.

Left as is, the box will not close completely, and stay closed. We need to add an inner layer around the open rim for friction. To do this, cut a strip of cardboard (ours was about 1" wide) long enough to go around almost three complete faces. Ours was about 16"-17". Fold it into three sections, making sure it fits snugly along the inner surface of the box.

Hot glue it on the inner surface of the box so that about 1/2" of it protrudes above the cut edge.

Here is our pile of finished boxes.

All their lids stay shut.

The girls and I then painted the edges of our boxes in iconic Minecraft style, and added a fake catch. This was leftover bits of foam board painted silver and glued to the lid.

The catch, in addition to being decorative, provided some grip for lifting and lowering the lid.

Here is the finished Chest,

in multiples.

7 comments:

  1. What sort of knife do you use to cut cardboard?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CraftALife: See this post:
      http://www.ikatbag.com/2011/03/how-to-work-with-cardboard.html

      Delete
  2. I am always amazed at how efficiently you plan out your cardboard (and sewing) crafts. I would have made this so much more complicated than is necessary. Thank you for sharing how you did it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. I wish I would have read this before. I am only making 2 larger chest about 12". I ended up getting cubed sized boxes and will create box and cut lid. I will be adding the pixel look of the box but I do love the simplicity of yours. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish I would have read this before. I am only making 2 larger chest about 12". I ended up getting cubed sized boxes and will create box and cut lid. I will be adding the pixel look of the box but I do love the simplicity of yours. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. where do you get the cardboard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous: I get cardboard from various sources: grocery stores, Costco, IKEA, for instance. I ask a staff person if they have any large pieces they don't want. I've heard you could try appliance stores but their packing cardboard tends to be sturdier (double wall, for instance) which are great for forts and large constructions but more challenging for cutting up for crafts like this one.

      Delete

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