PapeRanpu

After the initial barrage of posts on the origin of PapeRanpu, I’ve gone silent for far too long and am writing this just to let you know I’m still alive. As you might have guessed, my disappearance from the blogosphere has been caused by my lack of engagement. It is not that I have not been doing anything, or at least trying to do something. It is just that I wasn’t trying hard enough and not much came out of my half-hearted efforts. It started with the summer and vacation and then the laziness extended deep into the autumn. Well, enough is enough! Let this post be the seed of another and more lasting burst of productivity.

One thing that has been bugging me since I started this whole endeavor was how to ship the lamps if someone from somewhere far far away chose to buy it. I was contemplating contacting some of the local cardboard packaging producers and asking for samples, but was skeptical that anyone would be willing to make just a few pieces that I need. So I didn’t contact anyone. I also had vague ideas of making a cardboard box or two from scrap material, but none of that material came magically in my way so nothing happened.

That is, until I was forced to buy a digital piano for my daughter’s musical education. It came in a huge cardboard box and this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. Another thing was that I had some time pressure because the damn thing was taking up half of our tiny apartment. The box I mean, not the piano. The piano only occupied her whole desk.

So I gave it a go. First I did an Internet search, of course. It came up with a very instructable tutorial on the topic. I made a sketch:

… and a model of the box:

Next, I cut open and carved out the piano box:

Following the tutorial, I used the hot glue gun to assemble it:

A clip holds the sides together while the hot plastic cools:

Large box for a large lamp has large sides that require large quantities of hot glue:

Repeat the process until the box is assembled:

I was not very happy with the result as the recycled cardboard I used already had some folds and cuts in wrong places that interfered with my design. I fixed it a little bit using some crepe tape.

Final step was to see how the material would fit into its new cardboard home. First, the accessories:

Then the separator:

And finally the star of the show:

Voila:

It does not look very representative, but I believe it would survive the delivery. If anyone would like to test it, we’re open for orders!

Update 22.11.2022.

Well… I still had some substantial leftovers from the huge piano box. And this box in which earphones were delivered:

Neither was big enough for the lamp box on its own, but I thought it was worth trying to assemble it from two pieces. After all, it would be a terrible shame to let all that good cardboard go to waste! So I draw the cutting and folding lines on the piano box leftovers:

Next I cut out the shape and folded it in right places:

Plus the missing part made of the earphone box:

While gluing this time I used a kettlebell instead of the clips:

This 2nd box was much easier to make and it turned out much better. I’m not sure how much this shows in the photo (especially how much easier it was):

The final move was a short trip to the paper container where I dumped all the cardboard leftovers. So you can rest assured that I will not be bugging you with my cardboard box making adventures any time soon. It is time for me to return to wood. And rice paper.