P is for Preserving Popeye's Poorly Packaging

Just a brief one, this is almost a re-run of a post I did with a similar box-frame from SAE of South Africa back at the start of the blog, but it may help someone somewhere fix something similar!

How the parcel in yesterday's post unpacked; the combined results of various postal services 'duty of care', coupled with the sellers decision to send an old and already torn carton in a heavy paper envelope with lose bubble-wrap and a sheet of card, the bubble-wrap rolled and bunched under the floating card and ripped the end of the box off!

Slide the contents out, unseal the glued flap and flatten out the carton, damp it and iron it flat, on the printed side I use a couple of sheets of printer paper (there's a change in my lifetime; 20-years ago I would have written 'typewriter paper' there!) between the work and the iron.

Bookbinder's licky-sticky adhesive paper-tape; Butterfly Brand is commonest, indeed, it might be the old one still extant, I don't know? Really it should come back as it's far more eco-friendly for parcels, if a bit messy!

Run the tape through the water so it gets quite wet, place it where required and then 'squeegee' it flat with dry cotton cloth or kitchen paper.

Cross-ply over particularly damaged areas, tares etc. And you need to cross the 'grain' of the tape, as it will help keep everything flat, over time the tape has a tendency to memory-curve back to the roll position, it's why you want to get it quite wet. Iron it dry, but with a lower heat, you don't want the tape popping-off, just consolidating flat.

Then cut back to any edges you've gone over, and here, I'm cutting the line of the original die-cutter, where Popeye overlaps the front as the material beside him folds down to make the frame-box. I use the fine No.11 blade from Swan Morton (No.3 handle)* as it has a very fine tip, and I use a new blade to get a sharp, instant cut with no snags. Obviously this is a posed shot, I would never use my left hand to do something requiring such accuracy and light touch.

* I have not been paid for this blatant commercial!

Apply a contact adhesive to one half of the previously sealed side. Allow it to go tacky. Bostik haven't offered any cash either!

Likewise with the opposite surface of the other flap of the join, watching for strings, all contact adhesives seem to veer toward stringiness, that's one of their properties!

Bring the two surfaces together, dropping the camera so you can line up the other end and get the whole thing straight! When you are sure it's all good, press them lightly together, you will have a nanosecond to change your mind and pull them apart again, or slide-squeeze them into line, then run you finger down the laminate with a little more pressure.

Finally I use a metal-edged designer's ruler to press the join heavily with a bit of back-and-forward 'sawing' action, getting into the two edge-folds to ensure a firm join. Again, you need to loose the camera, to hold both ends and press down, then 'saw' back and forward. You could use a piece of square-profile dowel or wood-strip, but you wouldn't get the required firmness in the middle.

The finished item can be seen in the previous post (forth image down), which will either be immediately below this post or can be found by left-clicking the 'older post' hot link below.