When our nation was young and needed to store hats, clothing, personal belongings, and trinkets, they turned to bandboxes. Sturdy wood or pasteboard boxes covered in wallpaper and lined with yesterday’s news, these boxes were both storage and luggage at a time when closets were rare and animals provided transportation’s power. They were useful, decorative, and ubiquitous. Time and technology relegated them to the attic by the 1870s and what was once an occupation became a pastime for women and children. They’ve never lost their appeal or their usefulness and with the variety of decorative papers readily available today, the contemporary craftsperson can play with shape, size and covering to make bandboxes that are uniquely their own.
Learn the simple construction and the possibilities in shape and coverings. You will never again give a gift without making the box it goes in!