It’s always lovely to be asked to make something, and even better when given relatively free rein! The brief was to make boxes that were suitable for holding board game tokens, roughly 3-4″ by 1″ deep in size. The rest was up to me… Here’s what I came up with:

The design

I decided an open box was the way to go and designed the starter box in the Box-o-matic app before adapting it to have the bottom lip. There was a similar lip to the top edge but the client suggested that it may get clipped when reaching into the box, so the top edge was kept flush with the sides. I cut the boxes out on the laser cutter from poplar plywood with 1mm thick laser-cut fretwork on the sides which also covers the joints on the corners.

I painted the boxes with watered Raw Umber paint to give a dark wood stain before varnishing with a spray gloss varnish. Felt on the bottom protects surfaces as well as hiding the joints on the base. I finished the insides with various metallic paints I had lying around the studio. Design and build took two days, not helped by a file export error creating smaller boxes than I designed!

The response

The client was delighted and gave me a generous tip (thank you!) on top of the asking price, as well as sharing the following pics of the boxes in action:

The pics also show the shellacked birch plywood storage tower.

Final thoughts

It was a fun commission to work on, with lots of learning opportunities. With the client providing feedback to my frequent updates via WhatsApp, the design went through three prototypes before sign off and manufacture. From a maker point of view, I find once again that I don’t feel the worth of the product is anywhere near the cost of my time. Given the tip, I’m wondering if I misjudge my customers’ willingness to spend on bespoke/unique items… and my worth.