Boxed Broomstick Treat Boxes.

This is going to be a very lengthy post. I was asked how I made the brooms and the boxes for this project.   So to cover both it's going to take me a while to type up the instructions for both items.

... Maybe I'll have to do two posts. The easiest thing to do would to be to post a link to Sam's video and leave it at that. But I did encounter a couple of difficulties / mishaps and I wanted to share how I salvaged my work and I wanted to share another way of making them. As I was making these it occurred to me, there was an easier and quicker way of making these. But it does rely on you owning an old S.U die.  I'll share that way too.

 I was inspired by a fantastic video tutorial I came across by accident on Youtube.  I thought they were so cute, I just had to have a go at making them for the boys I work with. 

I wanted to make these brooms look a little bit more special, so I designed and made these display/ gift boxes to present them in. These brooms are not only ornamental, they have chocolates hidden under their bristles. 

 I will post a link to Sam's excellent video on making the broom later in this post. I'll  try and keep this as brief as I can, since I'll be adding a link to the video

With a little careful packing, I managed to fit seven chocolates in this broom. 

Sam used 2  pieces of card   1 measuring 11 3/4 by 5 inches and the other 5 x 6 inches to make her bristles.                                          

I used 2 sheets of  thick brown paper measuring  11 3/4 by 5 inches .  My card was very thick, and when wound around the stick it made my broom very  fat, and out of proportion to the handle. 

To keep the proportions right  using my  thick card,  meant I'd have to increase the length and thickness of the handle. Which would make my broom considerably bigger.

Let's get started. I used 2 sheets of thick paper both cut down to 11 3/4 inches by 5 inches for the bristles. I scored length ways  down the paper at 1 inch and 1 1/4 inches.

Using a pair of shredding scissors  (I bought especially for this project) I began to cut the bristles from the widest side up to the first score line. However my new scissors turned out to be pretty awful and only cut part way most of the time.  So I had to go back with a normal pair of scissors and finish the job.

Once I had cut all the bristles , I dragged an Early Espresso ink pad  over the shredded paper. Then brushed a little black ink on the tips with a blending brush.

   I did this on both sides of both sheets of paper.

Then I turned the paper around and snipped through the one inch side up to the second score line. Leaving a quarter inch gap between the two shredded sections.

Using a distress oxide ink pad in shaded lilac, I  lightly brushed over some of the bristles with the pad and smoothed out some of the  harsher streaks with a blending brush.

Now for the pyramid shape treat box under the bristles. 

Cut a piece of card  to 8 inches by 7inches.

Using a scoreboard,  along the 8 inch side,  score at the 2 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch  marks.

Turn the card around and score at 1 inch, 4 1/2 inches and 6 1/2 inches.

 Turn the card  back round so the 1 inch section is at the top.

 Score at 1 inch,  3 inches, 5 inches and 7 inches but only score down to the first 1 inch score line.

Then score 1/8th of an inch either side of those lines.

To form the triangle sections. 

Work along the top edge, starting on the first 1 inch point, below the middle of the tab, take a rule and score a line from the middle of the tab down to the bottom corner of the 4 1/2 inch line.

 Then another score line starting at the same point down to the opposite corner in the same box. 

See the photos.

Repeat this process on the   3, 5, and 7 inch score lines. 

Cut away the waste sections and you're left with the shape above. 

There is one more section to be cut away. It's the flap that is opposite the flap with the closure  when folded. This will become apparent when you try to close the box. I forgot to cut it away before taking this photo. but it's not a big issue at this time, it can be cut off later.

Fold along all the score lines. When you get to the diagonal score lines, make the diagonals into mountain folds and the  vertical lines in between into valley folds.

         Apply adhesive along the edge of the folds and pinch the valley folds together  until glue has dried.

Burnish the folds with a bone folder or something similar.

Repeat on all 3 valley folds.

These folds now look like the darts in a blouse.

So I am going to refer to them as darts.

Trim the darts to roughly quarter of an inch deep.

Apply glue to one side of the trimmed dart, press  down firmly and burnish until flat and well adhered.

Do this on all three darts pressing all the darts in the same direction.

Join the sides together and carefully manipulate the tabs so they form a tiny little square shaped tube.

 This is a little tricky and it's easy to rip the tabs off if you're not careful.

If this happens don't panic...On one of my brooms,  I managed to pull two of them off accidently.  So I ripped the other two off deliberately.

To repair the damage I cut a small piece of card

about 1 1/2 inches long  by 1 inch wide. 

I made 1/2 inch snips along one side and curled  the card with a bone folder. Running the card between my thumb and the bone folder several times. 

Doing this  breaks down the fibres in the card and causes it to curl slightly, making it easier to wind around the stick. 

Wind the uncut side of the card  around the cane to get the size and shape.  

While wound around the cane secure the end of the card with a little hot glue.

I applied glue to all those little snips and pushed the tube over the pointed tip of the pyramid  the pressed all the snips down to secured them to the box.

See the cream box in photo below.

Mine looks very mucky in this photo due to my inky fingers. But it didn't really matter as I will be painting the box when I paint the cane.

I dropped some hot glue into the tube and put the cane in before the glue set.

At the base of the box, cut off the flap that is opposite the closure flap. The one that stops you closing the box.

I painted the cream box a grey / brown colour, but the craft card box I inked using the same inks as I used on the bristles.

The corners of the box will poke out a little after the bristles have been attached, so it's best to colour the box so it blends in with the bristles. 

Attach one end of the sheets of bristles around the little tube with a little hot glue and start to  wind the bristles around the tube keeping those two score lines lined up.

I  added a tiny dot of hot glue every so often until the whole sheet had been wound round and adhered in place.

Once the first sheet has been adhered, do exactly the same with the second sheet keeping those two score lines lined up.

Once all the bristles are secured tip the box over and trim back the overhanging bristles.

 

Secure the end of a length of  twine with hot glue just above the top score line on the bristles and wind the twine around  until you have enough to create the desired effect and secure the end with hot glue.  

                                                                                   

Attach another piece of twine with a little hot glue and wind the twine tightly around the handle secure with hot glue.   

All that's left to do is tie on an appropriate tag with some Baker's twine.    

As promised here is the link to Sam's video tutorial.

So if you can't be bothered to read my attempt to give you instructions or if you can make no sense of my  instructions.

https://youtu.be/4rcZz4va4ag

                                                                                

At this point I like to put a wide elastic band around the bristles to hold them down so they don't get damaged, it helps to flatten them too.

All done...  

I said, I would a share an alternative way of making the pyramid base box.

I found this way easier and less time consuming. But it does require an old S.U die

called Petal Cone, It's an old S.U die.  If you're like me, you might find you still have this die 

hidden in your stash.

Cut two of the cone shapes. As this die is a Bigz die you can cut them both at the same time.

Join the two pieces together .

 Measure 4 inches from the point down each score line and mark. 

Take a rule and pencil and join the  first mark to the second, then to the third and the fourth.

 

Trim away the petal edges and discard. Join the other two sides together to form the bottomless pyramid.

Fold the pyramid flat and trim away any overhang as in the photo above. Fold on each score line around the box to check for  any overhang on each side and trim off any excess. You don't want a wobbly base.

Now it needs three flaps so it closes.

Measure the end of one panel and cut a strip of card that width. Mine measured 2 1/4 inches, so I cut a strip 2 1/4 inches from the side of a sheet of A4.

Then I cut two pieces off the strip  measuring  2  3/4 inches long.  Score  these two piece on the longer side at 2 1/4 inches.

 The half inch on the end is the glue tab. 

Snip off a small wedge from each side of the glue tab.

See photo below.

The third  piece of card I cut from the strip was 3 inches long. 

This time I scored at  5/8 ths of an inch to create the closure flap.

Then at 2 1/2 inches to create the glue tab. 

The  eagle eyed among you will spot there are two score lines on the flap in the photo. My first score line was at 2  1/4   which wasn't quite enough for the box to close neatly. So I scored again at 5/8ths of an inch.

 

Using the Pine cone die means your finished box ends up a little bit bigger which means you might have to lengthen your bristle  sheets by 1/2 an inch.

It also means you can fit more chocolate in it. I managed to pack in ten chocs in this box.