Pastel Box

The crappy cardboard and foam box that my pastels came in was no longer any good. I needed the space for a few more pastels, and I also wanted a nice looking wooden box too. Now buying a ready made one would cost a lot, and I had already made my own paint palette, so I knew it wouldn't be too difficult for me to knock together something at least functional, even if it was not quite perfect.

I started with a couple of scribbled pencil drawings so I could visualize what it was I wanted. I then made a technical drawing with all the measurements that I needed and could work from whilst putting the box together. (I hope my GCSE graphics teacher would be proud)

I cut the strips of wood for the frame using a 45 miter and glued them, holding them together with staples overnight. Removing the staples the next day, I traced the frame and cut the base of the box, and did the same for a lid. I then glued the frame to the base and held it together with some books overnight.

The next day I stained all the parts of the box (purely an aesthetic choice) and attached the lid with a couple of hinges. I then needed to add the dividing inserts to organize the pastels. Now the only bits of wood I could get were taller than the frame (and also wider than I originally intended, but that didn't matter too much) so using a planer, I shaved them down till they fit. I stained them too, before gluing them in.

All that was left was to add a little latch to keep the lid closed. And that's it. A very simple box to put together. A little bit janky, one side is definitely slightly longer than the other, but it works perfectly well to hold my pastels. Using mostly bits I already had lying about, it probably came to a quarter of the price of anything I could buy.