E-craftbook JW 001 Wall Display
Design by Jeremy Walton, 2007. DesignYouMake e-craftbook.
DOWNLOAD $6
A wall display for small treasure. A modern day version of the old recycled Type Case drawers that people hang on their walls and keep small memories in. The E-craftbook presents the inspiration, technique, simple making step by step guide and the all important templates for making one unit from nine ‘Tetra Rex’ milk cartons.
Nine piece unit
The nine piece unit is made from milk or juice cartons of the ‘Tetra Pak’ variety. The wall display unit can be added to with more and more units.
The download consists of a production manual and nine templates to cut out. These are used to draw on the nine milk cartons that make up one unit. These units can then be duplicated and joined together, creating a larger wall display. With enough space for keeping as many of the the small memories that you might wish to keep.
Multiple units, multiple possibilities.
Once you have made one unit you can make further units and start attaching them together. Follow the same principal of taping the front corners of the cartons together, as explained in the instructions. When joining units together in this way, it is not entirely necessary to use tape on the sides.
The result is quite stunning, if I don’t say so myself. It started out with the Water Drop for the SE exhibition and wondering if I could use a technical 3d computer program to sculpt milk cartons? It was a hunch, i did not know quite how it would look. The result has been more than satisfactory for me.
You don’t see something like this in shops, or if you did it would be unaffordable. Such an object would be almost impossible to manufacture in relation to what it is as a functional object.
The nine piece unit is a selected part from the original Water drop. The unit is symmetrical and can be rotated to join up with its diagonally opposite side. From this nine piece unit, develops a large relief pattern that can be as large as you like.
In contrast to the result it is reasonably simple to make, for anyone that can cut along a line. When it starts to combine with more units the relief pattern is very impressive.
Example screen shots from the 26 page JW WallDisplay E-craftbook
Includes: 26 page pdf with: inspiration, technique, simple making step by step guide, tips and nine printable templates.
Materials:
- Milk cartons of the 7 cm x 7cm Tetra Rex variety (9 milk cartons needed for one unit)
- Sticky tape
Tools and Techniques:
- Pen and scissors
- Drawing around templates
- Cutting out
- Alignment
- Numbering
- Sticky tape
DOWNLOAD $6
‘Design is knowledge, craftsmanship is a state of mind.’
For me this object really helps to prove a point, the cutting does not have to be spot on, the milk cartons join together at the front and most discrepancies in cutting accuracy are pushed to the back, leaving the front edges to line up reasonably well.
It does take a bit of openness to appreciate homemade craftsmanship and you may have to step above what you are used to seeing in glossy magazines. This object actually makes all that quite easy to do. There will be some gaps and human differences, but these give each its own unique sense of life. Everyone who has been around my place and seen them are dumbfounded at how beautiful milk cartons actually are. They once thought that all of them big bin fillers where common everyday rubbish. When in fact, when clean, they are high-density card with a cleanable surface coating.
When i first started working with milk cartons I had an idea that the side edges should always end at the same width as wide sticky tape. So the milk carton graphics could be stylishly hidden by white or colored tape. But no, the various milk carton graphics are quite priceless, they tell a story of time and give originality to the object.
From having made quite a few of these now, I do favour being completely random with what milk carton graphic ends up where. A mixture tends to blend better than a repeated graphic, disrupted by a sudden change of graphic. It is hard to avoid the graphics changing unless, for some reason you buy a large amount of the same type of milk or juice cartons at once. Milk carton graphics change quite often and soon become vintage and unavailable.
Do as you will, if you really can’t accept packaging graphics, then paint over the side edge.
The units can be attached to the wall or just stood on the floor or a large shelf as an object. You can also use it laid flat as a pot for keeping pens etc, but if you visit this site again soon (join up for reminders! and updates) you might be able to download a new version, especially developed for acting as a pot or box.
Rumour has it, that a wall full of them would act as sound proofing. Probably for sound going out, rather than in? Try calculating roughly how many milk cartons you will need before getting any big ideas. Send me a photo if you ever get anywhere near to filling a whole wall. It is designed in a way that you make it nine cartons at a time. Trust me, after making the ‘Water drop’ with near to 500 milk cartons, I know how much space empty milk cartons can take up. It also amazes me, how the danish landscape remains so flat.
Tags: DesignYouMake, E-CRAFT BOOKS, Jeremy Walton
