HOME | DD

Description
No sooner had I made the business/promo cards ([link] ) for my text-message-based literature journal, escarp, than I needed a case to carry them in. I mused about the difficulty of finding something pre-made. My ever-vigilant mother bought me a full-sized, engraved business-card case for graduation. That wouldn't do (would scratch my phone, MP3 player, was too big, etc.)

I needed something that was:
- as small as possible
- large enough to accommodate height/length variations in the cards
- as light as possible
- capable of protecting the cards
- more durable than the bubble-gum-case I tried making.
- made from recycled materials
- able to grip the cards enough to keep them from falling out, but lightly enough that I can remove them with my thumb

So, I designed this case a few weeks ago, and have been carrying it everywhere I went since. I used the pattern to cut a case out of a compressed-sheet-cardboard box (~1/16-1/8") and covered/assembled with duct tape. It seems to be holding up quite well.

There were some issues to address in future iterations of the case, which will undoubtedly be created when this one wears out. These were:

1.) the cardboard sheets started to separate during folding. The duct-tape is holding it together, but I'm passively looking for new materials.

2.) the longer flap on the back of the case is a little long. I actually trimmed about 1/8" off of this part before taping it up.

3.) The tongue on the lid is just almost too small. It BARELY fits into the notch, so I would probably make this slightly wider.

4.) It won't close with more than 12 cards in it (I was designing it to hold 15 cards, but it was hard to judge how the cardboard would fold)

5.) I repurposed the cardboard, but the duct tape used to secure it was new material.

EDIT: I made and uploaded a more precise, computre-generated .png of the template here: [link]

Description
No sooner had I made the business/promo cards ([link] ) for my text-message-based literature journal, escarp, than I needed a case to carry them in. I mused about the difficulty of finding something pre-made. My ever-vigilant mother bought me a full-sized, engraved business-card case for graduation. That wouldn't do (would scratch my phone, MP3 player, was too big, etc.)

I needed something that was:
- as small as possible
- large enough to accommodate height/length variations in the cards
- as light as possible
- capable of protecting the cards
- more durable than the bubble-gum-case I tried making.
- made from recycled materials
- able to grip the cards enough to keep them from falling out, but lightly enough that I can remove them with my thumb

So, I designed this case a few weeks ago, and have been carrying it everywhere I went since. I used the pattern to cut a case out of a compressed-sheet-cardboard box (~1/16-1/8") and covered/assembled with duct tape. It seems to be holding up quite well.

There were some issues to address in future iterations of the case, which will undoubtedly be created when this one wears out. These were:

1.) the cardboard sheets started to separate during folding. The duct-tape is holding it together, but I'm passively looking for new materials.

2.) the longer flap on the back of the case is a little long. I actually trimmed about 1/8" off of this part before taping it up.

3.) The tongue on the lid is just almost too small. It BARELY fits into the notch, so I would probably make this slightly wider.

4.) It won't close with more than 12 cards in it (I was designing it to hold 15 cards, but it was hard to judge how the cardboard would fold)

5.) I repurposed the cardboard, but the duct tape used to secure it was new material.

EDIT: I made and uploaded a more precise, computre-generated .png of the template here: [link]