Final Box, Finally!!!

Since my last post I thought of a design, bought the materials, spent about 20 hours building my box, and then finally turned it in last Tuesday.  Here is the final submission:

So, as you can see I decided to stick with the black and white, revamp the non-descriptive female advertisement in the form of a silhouette, and put it together with a clean, simple box.  The black was just a glossy black finish, and the white was a glossy, pearlized paper.  I liked the idea of the double frame and the look too once it was together.  I added the gold necklace to pictorally suggest and tie in the necklace.  I had a really difficult time hinging the box, so I used a black ribbon on the back to create the hinge.  I am really happy with the overall design, I really liked the way it looked and would certainly be able to translate this box to multiple iterations of antique jewelry, not just my necklace.  I think I finally was able to come up with a design that spoke both of the old and of the new and with that I am most happy.  It is funny because I came up with a finite problem and gave it a designed solution, and that is the acheivement I am most proud of.  However, the final box gave me some difficulty, I should have applied the paper to the exterior edges after I scored and folded the corners, it would have been a little cleaner.  I also should have reinforced the interior hinge of the box, because as of yesterday it was already tearing.  I had some difficulty figuring out how the necklace was goign to sit within the confines of the box.  I finally decided to use the interior of a roll of tape, glue it to a square piece of chip board, stretch black velvet over the top, and then add bendable wire covered in velvet to act as arms to hold the necklace.  See below:

Once I submitted this box for crit on Tuesday I found out that we were doing a peer critique in class.  I felt pretty confidant about this because what I lacked in precise construction I think I made up for with the aesthetics of the design.  It turns out that I was right.  My peers really liked the box, which was more rewarding than any grade from a professor.  One student even wrote that they thought the box was, "timeless".  Which is exactly what I was trying to convey through my design.  Someone else also mentioned endearing, which is how I viewed the design too.  I am really happy with the comments and feedback I received.  Unfortunately, with the good news comes the bad, and now I have a new assignment to work on.  Stay tuned for my initial ideas.