Mary Jo's Boxes

A forum to exhibit your Origami work.
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maryjo
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Joined: February 17th, 2014, 5:55 pm

Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Hi all! I just joined the forum so thought I'd post my website and recent models. I got into origami years ago when I ran across John Montroll's first book Origami for the Enthusiast in one of the Smithsonian museums and have been folding ever since! I used to even get to fold some of John's unpublished models when I still lived up in the DC area and was a member of the club there, but now live down in Wake Forest, near Raleigh, NC. I'm a big fan of Tomoko Fuse's box models and that's mostly what I fold these days, now expanding into folding them using stiffened fabric which lets me create some really beautiful and unique boxes. Working with fabric has its own issues, not the least of which is that you usually don't want the reverse side to show unless you cover it with something, which I sometimes do with foil paper. I've got almost every book she's published on boxes, many of which are only in Japanese, but I actually have a brother that lives in Japan and has Japanese citizenship so has helped me order books and even helped translate them when I get stuck! ;-) I sell my boxes from time to time under the name "The Artful Box" and you can see a gallery of some of my older models at my website http://www.theartfulbox.com.

I work full time as a web application programmer (primarily do enterprise level ecommerce sites) and haven't been doing much origami for a few years but recently got motivated to start folding again and so will post some photos off my Tumblr blog as well for boxes I've done in the last month.
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

I do also fold a lot of boxes using scrapbook papers, which are often a bit thick but can make really nice sturdy boxes and often have some really nice complimentary and interesting patterns. I also will order large sheets of washi paper and cut those down to make boxes as well. I used to have to order multiple packs of origami washi paper (which are often very expensive) since they usually have all different patterns, in order to get enough to do boxes with the same paper for each side, but thankfully now with the internet I can order full sheets and have more choice over the patterns I want to buy. Not that they are all that much cheaper, and I then have to deal with trying to get nice squares cut myself, but it does give me more freedom over what to use! You'll see a number of boxes in my gallery made with washi papers.
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Here's one of my new fabric boxes, this is probably my favorite pattern to use with fabric as it doesn't show any of the reverse side and is a fairly simple folding pattern to do that works well with complimentary fabrics.

http://mjsminkey.tumblr.com/post/744032 ... oxes-again


Mary Jo
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Gerardo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by Gerardo »

Welcome Mary Jo.

You've made some gorgeous boxes! I really liked the pattern in the one you're showing us from Tumblr. By the way, are the chests of drawers also origami?

I have created a couple of box models :). How about you, have you tried creating your own box design?

Cheers! I hope to see more of your work ;).
.
My awesome website: https://www.neorigami.com
and Instagram account: https://instagram.com/NeorigamiCom
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Just a note, since a couple people have PM'd me about my comment that I sell the boxes from time to time. Currently I'm not selling any boxes, and I guess I'll put that on hold for now until I am able to get permission to do so. I give away far more boxes than I have ever sold, and more often donate and sell them for charity purposes, but the fabric and washi boxes in particular are quite expensive to make and only by selling some of them from time to time can I afford to continue putting money into doing them. I had never considering selling something like a box being an issue under copyright (particularly since so many people on Etsy do sell them) but it does make sense now that it has been brought to my attention. I certainly do want to respect Ms. Fuse who has provided me so much enjoyment in these boxes that I've been able to share with so many family members and friends! It's sort of a joke in my family, every time I post a photo of a new box, my mom always replies "Can I have that one?" because she has taken so many of my boxes to give away herself!

Mary Jo
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Gerardo - good catch! Nope, the chest of drawers is just a kit that you build from cardboard, black paper and washi paper. I made those for several women in my family as well, they are just so cute!

I haven't designed any boxes myself, I'm not the creative type although I did have fun using Montroll's dog base to come up with a whole bunch of different breeds of dogs, which I made in correspondingly correct sizes as well, as one of my other hobbies is dog training and showing in various sports like obedience and agility. Unfortunately I gave most of those away though before photographing them! One thing I love with doing the boxes is you can let your creativity fly in terms of mixing and matching different patterns and colors.


Mary Jo
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Here's the most recent Fuse box I folded. This is from one of the Japanese books my brother ordered for me, I always use paper when folding a new one since not all models work with fabric, this one would probably be a bit of a challenge due to the thickness I have to work with. This is folded using some scrapbook papers cut to 6" squares which worked fairly well.

http://mjsminkey.tumblr.com/post/753695 ... on-origami


Mary Jo
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

And here's another fabric one. I love fabrics that have metallic gold in them like this one even though they tend to be pretty pricey, and this one I think has a nice color scheme that works for men, not easy to find when doing decorative fabric boxes!

http://mjsminkey.tumblr.com/post/744894 ... has-a-nice


Mary Jo
maryjo
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Re: Mary Jo's Boxes

Post by maryjo »

Just FYI, my Tumblr pages usually have 2-3 views of each box, at least one of it with the lid on, and one with it off so you can see the inside and bottom of the box. Just click through on the link to see the additional shots if you are interested.

Mary Jo
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