My Shiny New Firefly Lunchbox and How to Make One Yourself by nuclearday

BLUE SUN ROOM

My Shiny New Firefly Lunchbox and How to Make One Yourself

POSTED BY: NUCLEARDAY
UPDATED: Sunday, April 23, 2006 05:26
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VIEWED: 3472
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Saturday, April 22, 2006 7:44 AM

Huzzah! It's finally finished. Took... quite a bit longer than I had thought it would, but I think I've ironed out most of the kinks and figured out a fairly straight-forward process for making one. Didn't come out exactly how I'd orginally planned, and as I still have an extra lunchbox sitting around, I might decide to make another revision at some later date.

If you're just tuning in, or have somehow missed me rambling on and on about this, here's the deal: A while back I got the crazy idea in my head that I wanted a Firefly lunch box. Don't know why, but I did. Seeing as how no one else was offering such a product, I decided to go and make my own. Tried a number of different ways of going about this, and after reams of different printer paper, and a few ink cartridges, I've finally completed at least the prototype.

All in all, though, I think it's fairly shiny. You can see a couple photos I took of it in the blue sun room here: http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=9642
and a couple more here: http://www.nuclearday.zoomshare.com/1.shtml (Don't worry, there's nothing adult on that site, despite what the disclaimer shows. I'm literally using it just to post these files. I'm working on setting up a geocities account, once that's up I'll change the links here.)

Actually, it is literally very shiny. Since I used a clear paper on top of the metal box, there's a neat little translucency effect going on. Kinda neat when it catches the light. You sort of have to see it in person to get the full effect, and my digi-cam is a little outdated now. All the colors retain a sort of metallic effect that I'm rather pleased with.

So, down to brass tacks. First off, thanks to everyone's support here, everyone's comments and encouragement was amazingly helpful to me getting this done at every step along the way. No other word to describe it, you guys are all nothing short of shiny! ;p Also, thanks to FloralBunny for the River in a box idea. Don't know if you meant it seriously or not, but I decided to go and do it for kicks anyways :)

So. Maybe you want your own shiny Firefly Lunchbox? Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to produce these in any quantity at the moment. I 1) have no idea what the copyright laws on this would be, and 2) am just about flat broke anyway :) So I'd be lacking the capital, regardless of any risk of making money off of someone else's intellectual property.

But, I worked pretty hard here on making this as easy a craft project as is humanly possible. I've gone through all the trial and error myself, and I'll make all my source files available as well. So if you're so inclined and have a couple bucks burning a hole in your pocket, I'll explain how to make your own.

And if no one happens to be so inclined, that's shiny too :) I'm just putting this up here on the off chance. I certainly won't be offended by being the only kid on the block with one of these

Sorry, just sorta excited. This thing's been a work in progress for a couple months now with various delays and shipping problems. Just happy to have it finally finished.

Anyways, this particular post is getting long. I'll start another post following this one for all the instructions and various links.

________________________________________________
You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

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Saturday, April 22, 2006 8:10 AM

NUCLEARDAY

So... some directions for making your own Firefly-themed lunchbox. I'm drawing on the many, many (many...) mistakes I made working this thing through, and I'll do my best to try and steer any interested parties away from the more common pitfalls. So here goes, then:

1)What you need:
Blank Lunchbox
Some pictures
Clear Vinyl Adhesive Paper
Spray Acrylic or other sealant

2)Where to get these:
I got my blank lunchboxes from www.lunchboxes.com They have a nice blank metal lunchbox for sale there, which is what I used. I think from there it cost me about $8.00 or so plus S&H. You can also pick up a blank at most craft stores for pretty cheap too. Keep in mind that if you want to use my images, that if you pick a different 'box, you may have to make some changes due to size difference.

Pictures: You'll obviously need something, or you'll just have a neat metal lunchpail :) I'd love to see someone else's take on this idea, and feel free to use my images as templates if you like as well. Or, you can use my own pictures if you like. I've looked around quite alot for a free online space to host these pics, but had some problems. Since it's for print, I need a 300 dpi resolution, and that means some of these files are around 4Mb's. The solution I did find was to setup a dinky free website and use it for a makeshift photo page. The link for these pics is here: http://www.nuclearday.zoomshare.com/1.shtml

Sorry about the adult content warning that pops up. Rest assured, there's no porn or anything there. I checked the wrong box when I was signing up, and haven't been able to take it off since :)

One thing I've found about trying to print these. If you try and print these directly from the popup, you'll get something that's quite a bit larger than what I'd intended. (Comes from the files being 300 dpi, and your comp wanting to print it out at 72.) Save the file to your hard-drive, and open it in any sort of paint program (even the windows paint program will work), and you should get the right configuration.

Clear Vinyl Adhesive Paper: I got mine from http://www.papilio.com/inkjet%20glossy%20clear%20transparent%20vinyl%2
0adhesive%20media.html

I had some problems with this site, but it was from me trying to order an unrelated item that they no longer carried. Once that was sorted out, I had my paper within about a week. IIRC, it costs around $10.00 or so for a pack of ten.

So, what do you do with all of that? Once you have everything together, it's pretty simple. First, print out your stickers. I used my shiny new printer that I'd bought with my tax return. I never did get around to checking, but I don't see why Kinko's, Office Max, etc couldn't do the printing for you as well.

Once you have those all printed out, make sure you let them dry, and be very careful of fingerprints. I also recommend adding a layer of sealer spray at this point, too. The ink is going to be very delicate and easy to smudge, rub, tear, etc until you get some manner of protection on.

Cut out the stickers once everything is dry. The thing I liked about using a clear sticker is that you don't have to be incredibly precise with this part. I left a little bit of edge around the stickers and it came out just fine.

The paper should come with some instructions on how to apply it. Be very careful however you put them on. It's really hard not to get a couple air bubbles with stickers this large. Go real slow and careful, smoothing down one little section at a time. I've had lots of practice with this part, and I still ended up with three air bubbles on my finished product. (At that point, though, I figured enough was enough :) Since it's a sticker, you can peel it off and try again a couple times before it starts to lose structural integrity. Also be careful applying one sticker next to another. If you try and peel it back off, any ink on this sticker underneath will come off with it.

That's about it. Once you have everything in place, I recommend another coat or three of sealant. I'm still experimenting with different types of sprays to see what works best. Semi-Gloss Acrylic spray works pretty well. You can find Krylon brand stuff or whatever just about anywhere for a couple bucks. (Just make sure you spray from at least a foot away or you'll get some misting damage.)

For mine, I used stickers on the front and back panels, and on three of the four edges. (The top with the handle I've left blank for now as that's a tricky place to try and put a sticker.) My brother still insists it looked just shiny with only the front and back on. He also thought I should do one with just the pic of the crew on both sides. So there's a number of ways to go about this. I bought two blanks, myself. And the second one has just the front and back on, and I almost think it looks a bit more professional like that.

Other options: I'd tried doing a rub-on transfer, but had alot of troubles with that. (More air bubbles.) But the one time it came out right, it looked really nice. And was alot more durable than the adhesive paper method. Also, I tried putting a clear laminate over the stickers once I was done. But I just ended up with more air bubbles, and it looked a little poor, I thought. But it would make it a lot more durable.

If you follow those directions, it should be pretty simple. Keep in mind that the finished product is still going to be a bit delicate. And since it's inkjet, the colors will fade if left in direct sunlight.

Anyways, sorry for the extra, extra, extra long post there. But you probably didn't read it if you weren't interested anyways :) Let me know if anyone tries this out, any troubles you come into, and how it turns out. I might also want to add a disclaimer here saying that you may screw up a couple times, and that I'm not putting any type of guarantee here saying that you won't.

Anyways, thanks to everyone for all your help and encouragement :) Stay shiny.

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Saturday, April 22, 2006 12:11 PM

FLORALBUNNY

Awwwww, Nukie, it's literally shiny!
What a beautiful thing. Ties "Firefly," "eating," and "box" all together.
Nine characters all looking happy.
That wonderful dining table, all golden and home-like.
The box, for the giggle.
Mal's speech always makes me tear a little.

(Eat your heart out, Snoopy! Your lunch-boxes never looked so good.)

bun
-- bastards boxed my turtle --
----- why's the rum gone? -----

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Saturday, April 22, 2006 12:57 PM

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

shiny and what happens when you singe a turtle?

it's my insanity that keeps me sane hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:59 PM

FLORALBUNNY

GuyWho,
The turtle-singe takes place in Episode 15.
Unfilmed.
Shooting script at
http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=45
Enjoy.
Enough of the thread-jack, okay? Back to Re Re etc.

bun
-- bastards singed my turtle --
----- why's the rum gone? -----

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Sunday, April 23, 2006 5:26 AM

NUCLEARDAY

much thanks, FloralBunny, glad you like it :)

and GuyWho, I ain't worried about thread-jacking. I've already taken up my share of the bandwidth on this particular thread ;p

________________________________________________
You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

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