Twist-close Hexagon (Baumkuchen) Box – concept/mockup

[ResolvableOwl]

Made this purely for amusement/for my fiddly fingers. I don't intend to actually use these as actual packaging. It's a concept.

Bad news first: I was shopping yesterday, but Baumkuchen appears to be more seasonal than I thought. No Baumkuchen
But I found this snack instead, which uses the same type of twist-close hexagon boxes:


With this at hand, I went on and (probably) infringed a patent or two, to end up with a cut/fold template for this type of box. I printed it on paper, glued a window envelope on the back, and cut it out.



Three spots of glue and fiddly folding later, I had these two cute little boxes. The blank/template one works very well and is remarkably stable, owing it is made of ordinary typing paper. The one with the window, well, has a window in it, but that cellophane is by far not as stiff as paper, so it doesn't hold shape very well by itself. I weighed it down with the extra chocolate bar soaps – the ones within the box are barely visible, a more transparent window material would be appropriate in any case.



Eventually, the box is suitable to hold one disc-shaped soap (I just had none at hand in this size). Due to its hexagon shape, it packs very well, and still keeps the soaps apart from each other. The material and degree of manufacturing precision (mine was particularly soppy, b/c prototype) determines how isolated or in exchange with its environment the contents are.

 

[dibbles]

That looks very nice. Probably not practical for someone selling given the time I imagine it takes to make a box, but certainly could give a special look to a gifted soap. I wonder if something like velum might work. It is stiff, but translucent.

 

[Tara_H]

Looks good! Are you going to share your template?

 

[BattleGnome]

Those look awesome!

I’ve seen similar origami templates in Pinterest so you can definitely find a version without copyright issues

 

[ResolvableOwl]

That looks very nice. Probably not practical for someone selling given the time I imagine it takes to make a box, but certainly could give a special look to a gifted soap. I wonder if something like velum might work. It is stiff, but translucent.

Yes, I really didn't try hard to work accurate, still it took several minutes to cut out all the small triangles and get the folds in shape. Nothing I'd like to do by hand on the long run. A logical next step is to convert this into a template for my cutting plotter. If this works satisfactory, it'll make things a lot easier.

Material-wise I'm very unsure. Vellum/parchment – idk, I'd prefer something that wouldn't deter slaughter skeptics. For sure there are well-suited cellophane grades out there. What about starch, PLA, etc.? Since a new bioplastic is invented every two weeks, I have little incentive to decide for one early.

Are you going to share your template?

Perhaps, if you ask kindly enough …

Those look awesome!

I’ve seen similar origami templates in Pinterest so you can definitely find a version without copyright issues

I've found quite a few ones too. Many don't have these little triangles cut out, but I suspect that they might serve a real purpose and are not just there to make it more difficult for DIYers to copy the design .

Lil' nitpicking, this is kirigami, since it relies on cuts.

 

[Marsi]

Perhaps, if you ask kindly enough …

Dearest Resolvable Owl,

could you pretty please (with sugar on top) share your template?



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[dibbles]

Vellum is also made from plant based materials. Given the price point of the vellum paper available at the craft stores in the US, I believe that is what is sold there. I wouldn’t want to use animal based packaging either.

https://www.lcipaper.com/kb/vellum-paper-tracing-paper.html

 

[artemis]

This may be helpful to some-- a Custom box template maker!

https://www.templatemaker.nl/

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Vellum is also made from plant based materials. Given the price point of the vellum paper available at the craft stores in the US, I believe that is what is sold there. I wouldn’t want to use animal based packaging either.

https://www.lcipaper.com/kb/vellum-paper-tracing-paper.html

Ahh, I'm stupid, or rather: not used to the English names of all these handicraft supplies. That stuff on which construction plans were drawn in pre-CAD times, or paper lantern windows are covered with.

This may be helpful to some-- a Custom box template maker!

https://www.templatemaker.nl/

Great find! This template generator really couldn't be easier to use. When you want to have twist-close lids on both sides, one can print it twice and turn one of the lid templates by 180°. Or, I'm tempted to fold the box itself out of cardboard, and glue on the hexagonal bottom only from a transparent material. Infinite possibilities

BTW, the templatemaker.nl guys themselves appear to prefer the design with half-circles and cut out triangles over their simplistic fold-only templates: https://www.templatemaker.nl/assets/images/gallery/polygon/example213.jpg

 

[Marsi]

I like your inverse fold boxes, dear ROwl

and ... I have a most atrocious Aussie sense of humour

soz

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Just for you @Marsi

1. Go to ✂Templatemaker ︎ and insert your desired dimensions. Download the PDF (or an editable vector format if you wish so).
2. Look at the attachment to my post. In accordance with this, add half-circles on top of the not-folded half of the flaps. Mark the lower half of the skinny folded triangles to be cut out.
3. If desired, copy that design and replace the solid hexagon bottom by it too.
4. Choose construction paper/wallpaper/vellum of choice, fix the template onto it, and give your best cutting everything out. Use a folding stick or rear side of a knife to groove the folds. Pre-fold all folds.
5. Put glue on the glue flaps and press them at their final position.
6. Nearly despair upon folding everything in place. Just when you've succeeded, remember that you actually wanted to print some labelling onto the outside, and you'll have to start from the very beginning again.

I hope that was atrocious enough

 

[Tara_H]

Nearly despair...

A critical part of any creative or crafty endeavour!

 

[Daisy]

Made this purely for amusement/for my fiddly fingers. I don't intend to actually use these as actual packaging. It's a concept.

Bad news first: I was shopping yesterday, but Baumkuchen appears to be more seasonal than I thought. No Baumkuchen
But I found this snack instead, which uses the same type of twist-close hexagon boxes:
View attachment 56793

With this at hand, I went on and (probably) infringed a patent or two, to end up with a cut/fold template for this type of box. I printed it on paper, glued a window envelope on the back, and cut it out.

View attachment 56794

Three spots of glue and fiddly folding later, I had these two cute little boxes. The blank/template one works very well and is remarkably stable, owing it is made of ordinary typing paper. The one with the window, well, has a window in it, but that cellophane is by far not as stiff as paper, so it doesn't hold shape very well by itself. I weighed it down with the extra chocolate bar soaps – the ones within the box are barely visible, a more transparent window material would be appropriate in any case.

View attachment 56795

Eventually, the box is suitable to hold one disc-shaped soap (I just had none at hand in this size). Due to its hexagon shape, it packs very well, and still keeps the soaps apart from each other. The material and degree of manufacturing precision (mine was particularly soppy, b/c prototype) determines how isolated or in exchange with its environment the contents are.

Too bad about the Baumkuchen

Congratulations on the box artwork! I'm not sure of the infringement part- you can add a little twist to make it your own
Thank you for sharing!

 

[Tara_H]

Action shots by request!

I used the template maker site to give me a box 1cm high and 7.5cm in diameter to fit some of my lollipop soap mountain in! Exported as a jpg to GIMP, overlaid @ResolvableOwl's design tweak for each side, and printed it all out:


Then I laid the printout on top of a sheet of watercolour paper and cut through both pages with a craft knife.

Scored everything carefully with the back of the knife and pre-folded as instructed

Glueing was a bit fiddly, but my mini spatulas make great extra 'fingers' for holding down awkward tabs.


A perfect fit!


Then I just had to figure out how to get it closed, which was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

1. To get the flaps really closed rigid (spiral pointing inwards), the mantle needs some extra headspace to the height. (not needed if you decide to leave it in that half-open flower-like shape)
2. The angles in my N=6-fold design aren't 60° but a bit larger to help tensions keep everything together. For a N=8-fold box, generously round up 180°×(1/2-1/N)=67.5° to, say, 70°). I didn't expect someone to just distort my sketch
3. It'd been easy to copy the spiral twist-close to the underside as well, to save on some gluing, for double the cut-out and folding fun!

 

[Tara_H]

the mantle needs some extra headspace to the height

Yeah, I realised that when I first folded it together... but actually it works fine like this also, it still sits sort of flat with a little pressure, but then it's resting on the soap inside. Probably not a good idea if there's cake in the box, but for stacking soaps, nbd

I didn't expect someone to just distort my sketch

What, you mean instead of just making it work I could have been doing maths?!? Golly gee, I guess I missed out

copy the spiral twist-close to the underside as well

Hahaha yeah, no.


... maybe...?

 

[Juggsy]

... – idk, I'd prefer something that wouldn't deter slaughter skeptics.

Off topic but what is a slaughter skeptic? A vegan? Sorry need to ask as I feel dumb & Dr Google didn't offer an results that made sense, only thing I could find was this: "Who censors you now, will also slaughter your grandchildren later. They know no bounds other than being held accountable. Once that is gone, they do not stop."

Lil' nitpicking, this is kirigami, since it relies on cuts.

You sound like my son he's an origami and kirigami master and if anyone says "nice origami" when it's kirigami he becomes post worthy in r/PublicFreakout(s). His aspie brain creates mind blowing designs. When he was younger he'd make boxes and bags for me. Nowadays he wants to be paid more than a dollar per box! I can't afford him.

Love your box, it's amazing!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

It was a lousy attempt of mine to sound morally superior to omnivores (looking at you, lard gang!), while avoiding all the fancy neoliberal PR rhetorics like “vegan”. And to compress all this into a catchy expression (in the vain hope it wouldn't irritate casual readers too much).
I had no idea that someone else already used this in a questionable context that would need further explanation in any case.

It sounds like your son is a very likeable person, fully to my taste

 

[The_Phoenix]

Following...

 

[LucyBubbles]

Off topic but what is a slaughter skeptic? A vegan? Sorry need to ask as I feel dumb & Dr Google didn't offer an results that made sense, only thing I could find was this: "Who censors you now, will also slaughter your grandchildren later. They know no bounds other than being held accountable. Once that is gone, they do not stop."


You sound like my son he's an origami and kirigami master and if anyone says "nice origami" when it's kirigami he becomes post worthy in r/PublicFreakout(s). His aspie brain creates mind blowing designs. When he was younger he'd make boxes and bags for me. Nowadays he wants to be paid more than a dollar per box! I can't afford him.

Love your box, it's amazing!

Smart kid