Brian Hou: Week 10 Box Maker

This box is by far the most personal thing I have shared. I chose to design the box as a reflection of what it holds: a book. This book is reflective of my desires, my goals, dreams and personal progress. Years ago, I met a life coach who would change the way I see life. He gifted me this book and has become something that holds lots of sentimental value. This box is a case and features quotes from Buddha and Einstein. There are only circles and lines in my design because it is reflective of a thought and an atom. Circle's represent flow, karma and the rule that what goes out, must come back. I also intended for it to occasionally be put on a shelf, so I made a spine for the box that has my last name and title. The dimensions are 1.75" by 5.70" by 8.55" and I had to take in account the thickness of the wood so the book would fit.

I took the PDF from the BoxMaker file and put it into Rhino. I used text to cover covers a large portion of the box. I used offset to make the different circles as well as line up the texts. Because the texts initially start as a line of text, I have to align them perfectly into the circles by splitting the sentences apart. After cutting the box out, I sanded them down and washed them. I should have quick dried them instead of letting it air dry because the wood started to change shape. I was afraid it would not fit afterwards, but I used the glue to force it to stay, so everything worked out.

I had to cut the box 3 times because my first attempt was not big enough to make the box fix, so after remeasuring the book and the material thickness, I remade the box and now it fits perfectly. I had ordered 2 small hinges online and they fit very proportionally on my box. It came with screws, but because it would risk damaging the box, I decided to use Loctite glue to keep the hinges on.