A card in a box doesn't have to be square! Any shape with an even number of sides can be folded flat for mailing.
This daisy petal pop up card is 6 sided.
How to make a Hexagonal Card in a Box
Download file set: PDF, Silhouette Studio, DXF, SVG.
Cut box and strut from card stock.
Cut liners from decorative paper as desired: 6 squares (cut twice to cover inside and outside of box) and petals (cut 6). I did not line my petals.
This green paper is on the outside of the box. The inside is lined with yellow.
If you are lining the inside of the box leave the left-most liner unglued on its left edge. This allows you to hide the box tab when you put the box together.
Construct inside strut: fold the tabbed strip on the score lines, curl strip into an open rectangular box, and adhere the tab end to the inside of the other end of the strip.
(Note: when I made and photographed this card I had a semi-circular shaped top on one long side of the strut. I didn't like it, so I cut it off. Pretend it isn't there!)
Adhering the Strut
The strut is adhered to the box before the box is constructed.
Lay the box piece open, wrong side showing.
On the second box to the left from the tab, measure in from the crease edge of the box 3/4" and mark a vertical line. (This is the vertical midline of the box.) Line shown in dark grey.
Collapse the strut and lay it on the card as shown, to figure out placement. Make sure one of the short sides of the strut is visible on the left, and the other short side is underneath, on the right (where the arrows are pointing).
Lift the strut, flip it over, and apply adhesive to that short side that was hidden. Flip the strut back over and adhere it, re-aligning the right-hand creased edge of the strut with the grey line.
Apply adhesive to the other short side (on the left-hand side), shown in red squiggles below.
Close the left side of the card, folding at the second crease from the left (right under the t of the "extremecards" watermark). This adheres the second short side of the strut to the inside of the card.
Gluing the Box Together
If you lined the inside of the card, spread adhesive on both sides of the box tab on the right. If not, spread adhesive on the tab only on the right side.
(This picture, with the green paper, is showing the right side of the box tab.)
(This picture, with the yellow paper next to the tab, is showing the wrong side of the box tab.)
Close the right-hand side of card, adhering the tab to the inside (the wrong side) of the card, sliding the tab under the inner lining if you used it.
The card will only fold flat one way--the way you constructed it. If you try to fold it across the other diagonal the strut will tear off.
You may notice that the strut does not sit exactly straight across the hexagon. It can't. (Without deforming the opening into a rectangle.)
See how the strut is closer to one corner than the other? You can't "fix" it. That's the way the geometry works.
When I was making this card, that's why I cut off the semi-circle on the strut. It seemed to draw attention to the skew in the strut.
I bought the butterflies and bugs from the Silhouette Store. On sale this week for $.50 a file!
Most are glued to the struts or each other. A few are glued to thin strips of acetate cut from some old overhead projector sheets I had lying around.
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.
This daisy petal pop up card is 6 sided.
How to make a Hexagonal Card in a Box
Download file set: PDF, Silhouette Studio, DXF, SVG.
Cut box and strut from card stock.
Cut liners from decorative paper as desired: 6 squares (cut twice to cover inside and outside of box) and petals (cut 6). I did not line my petals.
This green paper is on the outside of the box. The inside is lined with yellow.
If you are lining the inside of the box leave the left-most liner unglued on its left edge. This allows you to hide the box tab when you put the box together.
Construct inside strut: fold the tabbed strip on the score lines, curl strip into an open rectangular box, and adhere the tab end to the inside of the other end of the strip.
Adhering the Strut
The strut is adhered to the box before the box is constructed.
Lay the box piece open, wrong side showing.
On the second box to the left from the tab, measure in from the crease edge of the box 3/4" and mark a vertical line. (This is the vertical midline of the box.) Line shown in dark grey.
Collapse the strut and lay it on the card as shown, to figure out placement. Make sure one of the short sides of the strut is visible on the left, and the other short side is underneath, on the right (where the arrows are pointing).
Lift the strut, flip it over, and apply adhesive to that short side that was hidden. Flip the strut back over and adhere it, re-aligning the right-hand creased edge of the strut with the grey line.
Apply adhesive to the other short side (on the left-hand side), shown in red squiggles below.
Close the left side of the card, folding at the second crease from the left (right under the t of the "extremecards" watermark). This adheres the second short side of the strut to the inside of the card.
Gluing the Box Together
If you lined the inside of the card, spread adhesive on both sides of the box tab on the right. If not, spread adhesive on the tab only on the right side.
(This picture, with the green paper, is showing the right side of the box tab.)
(This picture, with the yellow paper next to the tab, is showing the wrong side of the box tab.)
Close the right-hand side of card, adhering the tab to the inside (the wrong side) of the card, sliding the tab under the inner lining if you used it.
The card will only fold flat one way--the way you constructed it. If you try to fold it across the other diagonal the strut will tear off.
You may notice that the strut does not sit exactly straight across the hexagon. It can't. (Without deforming the opening into a rectangle.)
See how the strut is closer to one corner than the other? You can't "fix" it. That's the way the geometry works.
When I was making this card, that's why I cut off the semi-circle on the strut. It seemed to draw attention to the skew in the strut.
I bought the butterflies and bugs from the Silhouette Store. On sale this week for $.50 a file!
Most are glued to the struts or each other. A few are glued to thin strips of acetate cut from some old overhead projector sheets I had lying around.
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.