Boxes and displaying things

I have almost finished my book for Narratives. The pages are done and the cover is done and the colophon is done. The backing sheets have been glued into place. I have gathered some extra bibs and bobs.

And my mind has turned to storage and display. I had planned to make a display tray with a divider to hold the book and some bits alongside it.  At different points over the past few weeks I have watched some videos; drawn some ideas; plotted out a path or paths to making a box with grey board and book cloth. I chose the book cloth and got the grey board!

Sunday was the day I had on my To Do List - make box. 

So I set aside time and sat down to think my way through once again. Playing around here with some cardboard and getting a feel for how big I wanted it to be; how high I wanted the walls to be.

I decided I would do a trial run using Bristol Board/very lightweight card.

It was great to get out of my head and into my hands. As I went about doing the things I thought I should do (in my head) my hands remembered that I needed to do other things, and do some things differently. Thank you hands.

So I made a display tray with tape holding it together and thought yep I have the dimensions right and some of the logic about which side are slightly higher; which ones might be slightly longer than the internal dimensions and so on.

I was happy with the dimensions - it felt as if the book would sit nicely in its place and the other compartment could hold the extra bibs and bobs - the proportions worked. 

You can just see it here below, but I also wanted to include a notch in the divider so that you could lift the book out quite easily.

I showed it to Barry at this point and we agreed I had a good plan and the thing looked good. I then went - now I just have to work out how to cover it. And I pondered that in my brain and came up with some thoughts. My brain was really hurting here! I thought I might cover the divider before gluing it in and then when I looked at it I thought oh my goodness; it is going to be really hard to cover that notch neatly.

And I stopped dead right there.

This was the point at which I thought I have run into a real road block. I realised I had bitten off far more than I could chew and that I needed to re-assess everything about this book and its presentation and display. It felt as if there was no way I could bring a beautiful and professional looking finish to this work with my current plans and thoughts.

I had also planned to do another tray that would fit over the top and which you would lift off to reveal the book and its bits. Whilst this seemed simpler than the divider tray - it also would have to look perfect and so there was yet another job to do.

So it was back to the drawing board and looking at a multiplicity of alternatives that might somehow do what I wanted.

Dear Reader, I am still contemplating! Fingers crossed something reveals itself to me in a way that looks good and is manageable within the timeframe (just under three weeks). Stay tuned.

In addition to the twigs, I have been gathering other bits I thought could go with the book....

Much pondering still needed!