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On the face of it - you would imagine that making a clamshell box ought to be a fairly straightforward exercise. I mean essentially its like a box that fits snugly inside another box and they are kind of joined together by a connecting piece of book cloth.
So you just need some book board, some archival PVA and some book cloth. I imagine a ruler for measuring is going to be a critical item and a pencil. Of course you are going to need to establish what cubic size ( e.g. 4 by 10 x 8 inches, or 4 x 12 x 6 cm ) you are working towards i.e., what is it that you will be encasing so to speak inside this box you are making. By the way I work in metrics and so always use cm (centimeters).
After you have measured the box item you might want to add a small amount of additional space so that its not too ridiculously tight fitting and at the same time not knocking about in a vast amount of empty space. For an artists book I would probably add 1cm of additional space for a portfolio of original prints - I would probably add about 2 cm ( to allow for people taking the wad of prints in and out of the box)
As noted above with the wee eye symbol you must calculate for the thickness of the board within your overall measurements.
Myself and Eleanor who helped me to create my first clamshell box (as in the photos below) referred to this tutorial online
I think it might be helpful to watch this video by the excellent Sage Reynolds who is so good at explaining how to do this sort of things
I have previously had contact with Sage and I must say he is extraordinary in terms of his capabilities. All the things he has turned his amazing hands to .................have a good look around his website and you will see what I mean!
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| One "tray" in the Portfolio Box |
Once the board is cut, the pieces are glued together with straight PVA, creating a tray. At left is an image of the bottom tray of the box: the area where the book will sit. The top—basically a larger version of this piece that fits on top of it—and folding case will be made separately, all with binder's board and straight PVA, and these will be put together in the end. In a clam shell box, both trays fit inside a folding case with a spine piece, and is basically one long piece, made with binder's board and book cloth, that the top and bottom pieces rest up against. Making this piece is just like making a casing for a book: the main difference is, instead of casing a text block into it, you lie it flat, as seen in the image below. Notice the small space that is left between the spine piece and the sides, just like in making a book case!
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| The case and spine of the Clamshell Box |
Once these pieces are glued together (and dry!) the book should fit snugly inside, protected from the elements, even when you travel. As long as the artist is using archival-quality materials, the portfolio box—and the book inside it!—can last a long time.
This wonderful explanation has been extracted from the blog
Below are photographs taken by my friend Tatiana Serrano on the day that the lovely Eleanor Symms was teaching me, in my studio, how to make a clamshell box.
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