Monday, April 26, 2010

The idiot's guide: How to make a miniature lunch bag.

Hoho! 

It's a glorious Sunday here, and today will be the FIRST time I'm creating a photo tutorial!
Actually, it's the first time I'm creating a tutorial of any kind.

Solemn apologies for any mess-ups, missed details or dirty fingernails. Ahem.

Today, we conquer..
THE MINIATURE LUNCH BAG.

-wields sword and charges at army of lunch bags.


Before I start, let me just say that I am sure many of you have made miniature bags before, and this project is probably at a difficulty level of 0.0001 upon 100. Seriously. But I'm still going to go ahead and post this write-up, hoping that someone out there will benefit somehow. :)

For people who are seeking the short-cut, here.

For everyone else, let's start! :)

First, we will need some clean brown papers. They could be in the form of real life lunch bags, or brown envelopes. So do flip through your mail for anything you can save before you chuck them all in the bin!


And then we need the usual craft items.

A pair of good, sharp scissors. (or penknife/craft-knife if you prefer)
A sturdy ruler.
A well-sharpened pencil.
White glue, or any glue that will bond paper to paper. Or even double-sided tape.

 

Now choose your preferred brown paper and cut out a rectangle measuring 5cm in length and 3cm in width.


Using your ruler and pencil, measure and draw out the guiding fold lines below on the rectangle.


All measurements are in cm. 
Note that you may change measurements according to your preference for a bigger/smaller/longer bag. Experiment with various sizes! :)

(please pardon this crudely photoshopped image!)

  (click to enlarge)

Fold the rectangle along all the guidelines and make sure that folds are all in the same direction, i.e all folded in/out.

Score the folds by dragging your ruler along them.
This might seem like an unnecessary step, but it is crucial in making your fold lines crisp and neat.


Erase the guidelines after folding, and draw an additional guideline as shown. 
Cut out sections as shown below.

The additional guideline is for the serrated edge of the lunchbag.

 

 Snip away diagonally, making little diagonal cuts which stops before the guideline. 
Leave the shaded portion uncut.



 Snipping away in the opposite direction, you will have a serrated edge, which will be the open side of the lunch bag.


 

Erase the shaded portion, and apply glue/tape on the sections shown below. 
Fold lunch bag together, applying slight pressure on the glued portions.

 

 Now, snip according to the existing serrated edge for the overlapped portion (which is the shaded portion).

 

 Your lunchbag is almost ready! :)

 

 Fold halfway in for both sides, so that the lunchbag can lie flat.

 

Hooray! Now you can make many many more lunchbags for your miniature food. :)


 For people who have no time to read through my long-winded instructions, 
here's a quick step-by-step evolution of the lunchbag.

(click to enlarge)

Now you just have to fill these nice brown bags up! :)


I'm thinking apples, french loaves, a slim wine bottle. How about you? :)

23 comments:

  1. Lovely, crisp and cute. Thank you very much Rosanna

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  2. Thank you for the tutorial, so cute

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  3. Muchas gracias por el tutorial, me ha venido de maravilla, en la escena de jardin que estoy haciendo, lo voy a poner en el banco con un sandwuich.
    Si no te importa intentare hacer el tuyo.
    besitos ascension

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  4. great tute for a beginner like me. Thanks for taking the time.
    Cheers!

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  5. You're welcome everyone! :) I would really really love to see your lunchbags if possible, so just pop by with a link when you do make them! :)

    And Ascension, I translated your comment and I hope I'm not too far off from the actual meaning. Please go ahead and make the lunchbags! :) Can't wait to see it in your garden scene! :)

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  6. Oh thank you, thank you for this! I have always wondered how to make little paper bags and even though I knew they weren't complicated, when I tried it out myself they always failed spectacularly. I am just paper challenged I suppose!

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  7. Thanks for the tutorial. It's very useful. You are very kind!
    Elis

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  8. ...traigo
    sangre
    de
    la
    tarde
    herida
    en
    la
    mano
    y
    una
    vela
    de
    mi
    corazón
    para
    invitarte
    y
    darte
    este
    alma
    que
    viene
    para
    compartir
    contigo
    tu
    bello
    blog
    con
    un
    ramillete
    de
    oro
    y
    claveles
    dentro...


    desde mis
    HORAS ROTAS
    Y AULA DE PAZ


    TE SIGO TU BLOG




    CON saludos de la luna al
    reflejarse en el mar de la
    poesía...


    AFECTUOSAMENTE
    AICLAY

    ESPERO SEAN DE VUESTRO AGRADO EL POST POETIZADO DE CHOCOLATE, EL NAZARENO- LOVE STORY,- Y- CABALLO, .

    José
    ramón...

    ReplyDelete
  9. It is a great tutorial, with very clear instructions.
    Thanks so much for sharing :))
    Hugs,
    Paloma

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  10. how cute is that? my goodness! loving the blog

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  11. Adorable! And such a well done tutorial with clear photos.

    Thanks :-D

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  12. Thank you for your tutorial. It's very useful. Is this your first tutorial? Wow... it's very clear and really well done.

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  13. hi Mari, thank you! Yes it is my first tutorial, and I really hope it helped! :)

    P.S If you don't see your comment which you had left previously, its because all of the earlier comments on my blog entries were somehow deleted due to a tech error. :(

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  14. Um, can I be you for a day? I would just LOVE to play in your studio.

    Your minis are simply amazing. Paper? I can do paper. I could make a million of these bags. But the clay...oh, the clay! The textures are so life-like. You are very talented.

    I stumbled on your blog today and have been browsing through for an hour. LOVE it!

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  15. I love this. i love your blog and your minis.

    =)

    a very clear cut tutorial, excuse the pun. =)

    and even the idiot's guide is so helpful. =) thanks so much! keep it up!

    I'm making some for myself, thanks to my sudden craze of McD's hashbrowns - mini versions. =)

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  16. Marisa, I would love to HAVE a studio! hahah, mine's really just a square table beside my bed. :) And thank you for reading through my blog posts, what an honour. :)

    Maddie, aww I am feeling the love! :) Miniature hashbrowns sounds awesome! Haven't seen any of that around yet so far! :)

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  17. Sencillo, muy bien explicado y practico ! Muchas gracias! Mariajo

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  18. Super mignon et bien expliqué!Merci beaucoup !
    Véronique

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  19. Super bien expliqué!Merci beaucoup!

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  20. Me encantan las manualidades en miniaturas,mil gracias por tú explicación ya voy a comenzar a realizar mis Ministerial haga, 😘😘

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  21. Jocelyn, you had me with an lol at the difficulty level. But really, I can’t thank you enough for sharing this. I’m researching miniature bags to hold small thank you gifts for my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding. This is so perfect.

    ReplyDelete