Adventures In Embellishment
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Oh, Arkon! You’re not really a villain…you’re just misunderstood!
From a young age, I loved to read. I devoured books and went searching for more. Once, when I was in a childhood friend’s closet digging for reading material, I found his comic book stash. He didn’t have a collection as such, just a pile of assorted comics. I don’t remember what most of them were, but I do remember being enamored by the X-Men comics. He had most of the comics from the original Dark Phoenix saga and also a couple of the big annual issues, one of which particularly captured my attention. I thought the antagonist was really a romantic hero. My mother encouraged my reading of books but absolutely would not buy me (or let me buy for myself) any comic books. I cannot now recall what exactly she said about comic books, but almost certainly it was pithy, as her contempt for them was very clear. So I didn’t own any comics growing up.
As an adult, imagine my delight to discover that not only were there entire stores devoted to selling only comic books, but that they also sold back issues as well. I could go buy some of those stories I’d loved as a child. I was working as a paramedic when I made this discovery, and my EMT partner at the time was the one who took me to my first comic book store. I wasn’t the only one who bought comics…he did too, prompting his budget-conscious wife to ask him tartly, “Yes, but can you pour milk on them and eat them for breakfast?” I didn’t have a budget-conscious spouse, and so I felt free to buy whatever comics I wanted.
Some years later, when I was trying very hard to be more financially prudent, I decided to sell some of my comic books on eBay. The older ones went for upward of $20 apiece, which astonished my mother. She couldn’t believe there was any real value in comic books, although she did stop short of asking me if I was paid in Monopoly money. Among the issues I intended to put up for sale was my Age of Apocalypse run of comics, but I wasn’t sure I had them all. So when I was preparing to write up the item description for eBay, I looked up the “read order” on Wikipedia (I can’t find that list anymore, which is why I haven’t linked it here) and discovered that I had thirty-seven of the thirty-nine issues for that limited run series. So…instead of selling the thirty-seven that I did have, I bought the two I was missing and kept the whole Age of Apocalypse run. I didn’t even try to feel bad about it.
My comics have been sitting around in six comic book boxes (sturdy lidded boxes that will allow the issues to stand upright) for quite awhile now. The boxes are white and ugly (in no small part because I’ve scribbled notes on them over the years). So I thought I’d cover them with something more attractive. First, I tried wrapping paper. Specifically, Avengers wrapping paper which I got on Amazon. But the paper was too fragile and did not hold up for more than about five minutes as I was moving the boxes around. Then I thought to try fabric. There are a number of specialty cotton fabrics that are printed with superhero motifs, so I got a bit of that.
I first tried the most common method I’d found on the interwebs, which is to cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the bottom and sides, with a bit left over to wrap over the top edge. You then cut it as seen in the picture to the right, which is taken from a very nice tutorial that you can find at NamelyOriginal.blogspot.com. This worked okay, but there were some problems. 1) This method wastes a lot of fabric (all those squares you have to cut away at the corners); 2) if you are using directional fabric, then at least one side of your box will have your fabric pattern displayed upside down (as illustrated below on my first attempt); 3) on a larger box, where you have to do it all in one go, it’s a lot of fabric to handle before the glue starts to dry; and 4) on a larger box, you need a lot of space to lay out and mark and cut that much fabric.
So I tried another way. I decided to cut the fabric pieces individually for each side of the box. I did not worry about lining the box. Basically, I measured each side of the box, as well as the bottom. For the sides, I added an inch allowance on the sides and bottom, and two inches to wrap over the top edge of the box. For the bottom piece, I added an inch on all four sides. I cut those out, and ironed the pieces, then glued the fabric onto the long sides first, using Mod Podge. I glued the extra inches to the bottom and the sides, and then glued the two inches on the top to the inside of the of the box. I trimmed the corners slightly as needed to help those little flaps lie flat.
On the shorter sides, I pressed under just about an inch along one side, and then set the piece on the box to see where I needed to turn under the other side to make it fit. Once both sides were pressed, I double checked the fit before I glued it down. After the sides were glued flush with the edges of the box, I again glued the bottom inch to the underside of the box, and the top two inches to the inside of the box.
Now I just needed to cover the bottom. I pressed an inch in on a long side and a short side, and then laid it over the box bottom to see where I needed to press over the remaining two sides. Once all four sides were pressed, I checked again to make sure everything was flush, and then glued the bottom down. Then I did it all over again for the lid of the box.
As a final touch, I added a metal label holder frame to the lid and labeled the contents of the box. I really like how the boxes turned out and I found this method much easier than the first method I tried. Up close, the boxes are not perfect…but they are plenty good enough for me, and I much prefer my coverage method to the “use just one piece of fabric” method. (I need to check the thesaurus for a synonym or two for “method.” Later.)
If you have tried covering a box with fabric and been frustrated for one reason or another, why not try it my way?
