Divided Box Tutorial

Here's one of my methods for making a divided box. This takes forever. Well, one like this does. I decided to make this as a place to house some of my favorite pairs of earrings, so I used several small boxes to create one box that has several compartments.

I'm teaching a more technical version of this in my Scrapbook Social class tomorrow night, but this is the really simple way to do this.

Basic idea is to create several small boxes that you will connect together to form one box. Below is a picture of my basic template. I wanted 1.5x1.5" compartments with 3/4" walls. The picture shows how that gets set up. See the 1.5" base in the middle of the template drawing with 3/4" walls on all sides. Two of the sides have one extra 3/4" wall which folds over the tabs created from the other side. If you don't get how this gets cut/goes together, look at the following pictures.

This is cut at 4.5" x 3".


This is how the box get's cut out/scored:




Because the length of the walls (1.5") and the two tabs put together (3/4 + 3/4 = 1.5) are the same, cut a slice off of one of the tabs on either end of the box.


Fold along all of the scored lines with your bone folder. Add glue to the piece that will get folded for one side of the box. (In retrospect, I realize that I could have made several small boxes without that extra folded tab, which would have been WAY shorter. Cut 3x3" squares. Score in 3/4" from all edges. Create the tabs. Still cut a small slice off of two of the tabs. When you glue, put glue only on the tabs and fold the side of the box in, leaving the tags outside because they get covered up... Ugh, I should have done it like that! LoL.)


Fold the glued wall over the tabs to create one side. (Or skip the extra fold as I described above.) Repeat to get the other side of the box done.


Once you get all of the boxes made, create the little pieces you'll use to attach them all together. I keep the wall height the same, but keep the wall width shorter by 1/16". For instance, these little pieces of paper are 1 7/16" wide, but 1 1/2" tall, so that when they're folded in half, they create a 3/4" wall. Shaving off the 1/16" allows for them to fit inside the boxes better.


Glue on your little extra tab piece and put it over the side walls of two different boxes. (Since these boxes have some walls that are thicker and some thinner, I kept all of the thicker walls up and down and all of the thinner walls left and right, for uniformity.)


Repeat across your row of boxes. They will curl up a bit.


Connect the boxes together by gluing between the boxes themselves. Squeeze until it holds.


Finish an entire row of boxes at a time, before trying to attach rows. Attach the join between the boxes all along the row.


Blue between the boxes of the row.


Repeat until you end up with a divided box!


I decorated my box just a bit to hide the unsightly joins and to give it a bit more strength. I also made a lid. I need to finish decorating it and putting jewelry in it. I'll post a pic when that gets done. But it might be a while. I've got a second article to finish for Polymer Cafe magazine, four classes at JoAnn to make posters for, and a 3 year old running around distracting me all day long. And I've got to get instructions done for my Scrapbook Social class tomorrow night.