Pakaging and gift bags and a little DIY

I've been making my own jewellery bags recently for Chloe And The Chimera for fairs and markets.  They won't ever win a packaging award. They are extremely basic, over complicated for my purposes and not especially well designed! I got the flat card on which they are printed back from my laser printer owning friend, and while looking at them, and honestly, not being too happy with them, I started thinking about all the clever, witty, and breathtaking packaging ideas that there are out there. My own design came about as wanting something I could make myself. Which is why they are so basic. I want something more exciting and eye-catching! I'll be working on this when my current stock of bags run out!

These juice cartons are everything I want in my own packaging some day. Clever, witty and functional.

This amused me sufficiently. Eco, manly, and done well. Not sure what it was meant to house, but I could see mp3 player manufacturers selling them in this (I'm sure its already been done.)

Isn't this cute? Especially for Halloween? Little broom stick gift bags! Such a simple idea, you wouldn't even need to add the cut paper over the top, a marker pen would do the job. This is the kind of way of perceiving things that I am always jealous of.

I remember when I was young I was given a toy that was pretty much the same as these wine bottles. There was a blank face and removable stickers so that you could make silly faces again and again. I guess that's why this branding appeal to me. I like the idea of making faces that reflect the character of the wine. Sharp, mellow, sweet etc.

Completely impractical, space wasting, and utterly cute, funny and desirable! I wouldn't choose to make something like this for my own business, but I admire what they have done hugely!

These I decided to include in my picks for no other reason than that they are so striking. I love the illustration, the lettering and the patterned wrapper at the top and the matte black bottles are to die for. Lord knows what's in them!

This is again the sort of design I like, clever, useful and with a bit of wit. I wonder if there is a way of utilising my jewellery to make up a part of the packaging as with the nails here.

Hilarious! I want paint brush moustache faces!

I included this not because of the graphic quality, but because I spent about 2 minuets working out which way up the bottle actually was. And then I found this picture of it below! I had seriously doubted that it was real!

 

I think more than one brand has done this, but it is again clever, witty and perfectly designed.

Rather than lift the images, this post says it all about some clever packaging solutions for sending absolutely anything through the post.

While searching for packaging ideas I came across this. Unpackaged is a grocery shop in London. They have done away with packaging. You bring your own boxes and whatnot, there are vats with the smaller things like mixed fruit, pulses and nuts.  In reality this is what we should all be striving towards isn't? I loath the amount of packing I chuck away, whether it's to landfill or recycling. The vast amount of it is totally unnecessary. Maybe I'll make that a selling point eventually for Chloe and the Chimera. Perhaps I'll send my handmade jewellery in scrunched up Asda bags...?



Before that happens, I'd like to show the steps I made developing my current little gift bags.

I was always pretty good at working out nets at school, so I sketched this out of my head, cut it out and made it up.

I drew the ideas for the design on it flat and then made it up again to make sure I had things the right way up!

I scanned it in to the computer. It took me 5 seconds to pull the images and text from another document to put on the bag. It took me an awful lot longer to create the straight lines!

As you can see here I eventually managed it. These are the nets cut out an ready to be made up. I got three of different sizes on to a sheet of A4, I had to adjust the sizes to get them on. I don't like to waste paper.

The three sizes made up! At this point I took a good look at them (ignoring the bad print quality, my printer keeps spewing out splodges of ink all over the place at the moment.) I didn't like the side joint being at the front seam of the bag, and the bottom looked a bit messy too.

I cut it apart (glue was too dry to de-stick.) I used this as the template to produce the new net (below.)

That is what I scanned in to the computer again, cleaned it up and added the graphics again.

Cut and folded in readiness.

 

Glued together.

 

And, folded at the sides to create the bag shape.

Although I don't have a picture of the final bags, they are on card rather than paper, and, printed on a laser copier, the half-toning isn't as good as my regular printer, but it is devoid of splodgy ink everywhere. Once stapled shut with their lovely contents inside I think I'll be reasonably pleased with them.

I'm really looking forward to when they've run out and I can get creative and come up with some really exciting ideas!




All images are © Chloe Cooter 2012 unless image links to another website. All images that are not © Chloe Cooter will be linked to the source (if possible) and credited in that way.