Help Me Find: Packaging box that I can run through printer

[Lisa Shock]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

How is someone like me going to read this small menu?

 

Yeah, to fit on 8.5" x 11" the takeout box is going to be really small. You might want to look into some sort of Japanese papercaft, or the work that goes into pop-up books to make what might appear to be, say, some noodles inside but when pulled out opens into a menu.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

How is someone like me going to read this small menu?

 

 

Ugh. Regrettably, yes...my arm is also now too short to read small print, especially in dim lighting.

 

ETA: An acquaintance of mine told me once that when he'd been in a high-end restaurant somewhere or other, the server noticed him trying to squint unobtrusively at the menu...and materialized at his elbow a moment later, with a lovely felt-lined wooden box of reading glasses in various strengths.

Edited November 23, 2018 by chromedome (log)

[Martin Fisher]

I found this:

http://diyprintableboxes.com/

"Print Your Own Boxes Using Your Inkjet Printer"

Edited November 23, 2018 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Martin Fisher]

Now I want to print some boxes! 

[pastrygirl]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

How is someone like me going to read this small menu?

 

 

With the magnifying glass provided, which also happens to be made out of gelatin and wild herbs and is your amuse-bouche.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

With the magnifying glass provided, which also happens to be made out of gelatin and wild herbs and is your amuse-bouche.

 

 

 

With the tablecloth set on fire to provide illumination.

 

Actually I once experienced a tablecloth set on fire in a restaurant.  The late Serrano in Philadelphia.  Though I don't think that is quite why the restaurant closed.  I wanted to yell "Fire!" but I had aphasia and could only wave my arms and point.  Memorable meal.

 

[quiet1]

On 11/21/2018 at 8:31 AM, gfron1 said:

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for. I don't need very big...I'll check my drugstore but if you happen to see one in yours I'd appreciate a pic or a brand name.

 

I’ll see if my SO remembers, and try to get the brand next time one of us goes to the pharmacy if he doesn’t. It was some highly not memorable name so google is failing me. 

[quiet1]

On 11/21/2018 at 9:41 AM, pastrygirl said:

 

Can the silhouette cut more than one at a time?  I had borrowed my sil’s but finally gave it back after never trying it out.

 

 

 

‘If you mean multiple layers, it isn’t really designed for it. You’d have to stick all the layers together somehow so they didn’t shift during cutting, and the maximum thickness is 5mm or something so you wouldn’t get many layers of cardstock in anyway. 

 

From a custom packaging perspective I think it’d be most useful for prototyping packages (my SO mostly uses it for this for his electronics projects, so he doesn’t have to mess around as much with more expensive or harder to work with materials) or for customizing - you can easily cut whatever shape labels you want, which can produce interesting results, and also you can write/draw with it, which we’ve used to have the family dog, Max, ‘sign’ cards for kiddo in a different handwriting than anyone in the house.

 

Actually, if you’re interested in getting into printing/silk screening at all (or at least willing to do it for the sake of product appearance) then you can also use the cutters like Silhouette to make vinyl stencils, which can then be applied to the silk screen itself and printed through. I haven’t tried that with mine yet but in theory it could make something quite spiffy. I do recall from silk screening holiday cards at school way back when that silk screening itself can be a bit fussy, though. So it really would depend on how much you wanted to put effort into trouble shooting and getting the hang of it. (Once we got it all working we had a pretty good production line going, it’s just having to make sure everything is lined up and getting the ink properties right, right amount of pressure for the design, etc.)

 

Now I’m wondering if you could silk screen something edible. Hm.

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, quiet1 said:

 

Now I’m wondering if you could silk screen something edible. Hm.

 

I'm pretty sure I saw Jacques Torres silkscreen something or other on chocolate, once.

 

That's my unsubstantiated memory, mind you, which is increasingly what the Eng Lit professors like to call an "unreliable narrator."

[dcarch]

They do make printers which can print directly on a flat and hard DVD disc.

How about a 3-D printer? they are not that expensive.

 

dcarch

[Jim D.]

8 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

I found this:

http://diyprintableboxes.com/

"Print Your Own Boxes Using Your Inkjet Printer"

 

This looks like a brilliant idea, perhaps just what @gfron1 is looking for. The manufacturer offers samples and templates. And I also like @pastrygirl's idea of an edible magnifying glass--a foraged magnifier that fits the restaurant's theme (would probably be more work than the night's dinner).

[gfron1]

2 hours ago, dcarch said:

They do make printers which can print directly on a flat and hard DVD disc.

How about a 3-D printer? they are not that expensive.

That's in an interesting idea too...will look into those.

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

This looks like a brilliant idea, perhaps just what @gfron1 is looking for. The manufacturer offers samples and templates. And I also like @pastrygirl's idea of an edible magnifying glass--a foraged magnifier that fits the restaurant's theme (would probably be more work than the night's dinner).

I had missed this earlier. If the price is right then this could work well. 

 

For all of you who mentioned the size of the print, there's 8x5"x11" of reading space....very readable. And yes I know in the DIY printer example above there won't be that much space but we're not talking about cramming 12 courses of ingredients onto a 2" square. My eyesight is horrible and getting worse every year so I'm very sensitive to that in all of my design elements.

[quiet1]

Rather than going with something cut out, what about seeing if you can find some kind of origami arrangement that suits? Or perhaps an origami menu inside a non-printed Chinese take out box? (Not sure exactly the effect you’re going for, so it’s hard to give precise suggestions. I’m just trying to think around the box.  )

[Lisa Shock]

Why the takeout box? What's so important about it's relationship to your place? Honestly, when I see them, I think, "the leftovers are packed up, time to leave" or "the carryout I ordered is ready, let's leave." So, I find it a bit odd to present in/on one at the start of a meal, but, then again, I don't know the rationale behind it.

[gfron1]

6 hours ago, quiet1 said:

Rather than going with something cut out, what about seeing if you can find some kind of origami arrangement that suits? Or perhaps an origami menu inside a non-printed Chinese take out box? (Not sure exactly the effect you’re going for, so it’s hard to give precise suggestions. I’m just trying to think around the box.  )

That's a beautiful idea, but a bit too much for this. All guests will be given an amenity gift/parting gift. I'm still toying with what the gift will be, my intention is to have it be something that can be enjoyed the morning after - maybe an individual quiche, or breakfast bread or something similar. But finding the box will play a role in the decision of the food since I'll have less options on the boxes than I will the food. Being a tasting menu each course will be described verbally at the time it is presented, and so they won't get their menu til the end, and I want them to have the menu in the box to invite memories or conversation the morning after. 

[AlaMoi]

I think someone mentioned the idea earlier - there is a "flat bed printer" design - the paper/t-shirt/corrugated/phone case/whatever is placed on a flat bed - which moves under the print head (which is 'stationary')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIMn9-foa84

no rollers, feeding, etc.  downside:  manual load, one at a time; cost goes up rapidly with size....

 

there are numerous sources for flat carton blanks - rectangular, open bowl tops, take out food types, etc etc

however if they are die cut to the final (pre-fold) form it's unlikely they'll feed / wrap around rollers. 

even if they are die cut but still in a full sheet (not 'stripped' as folding carton people say...) unless the stripping tabs have been exquisitely designed to hold the cut out, they may pop-apart in the roller path and jam stuff real good.

hence the flat bed printer . . .

[quiet1]

7 hours ago, AlaMoi said:

I think someone mentioned the idea earlier - there is a "flat bed printer" design - the paper/t-shirt/corrugated/phone case/whatever is placed on a flat bed - which moves under the print head (which is 'stationary')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIMn9-foa84

no rollers, feeding, etc.  downside:  manual load, one at a time; cost goes up rapidly with size....

 

there are numerous sources for flat carton blanks - rectangular, open bowl tops, take out food types, etc etc

however if they are die cut to the final (pre-fold) form it's unlikely they'll feed / wrap around rollers. 

even if they are die cut but still in a full sheet (not 'stripped' as folding carton people say...) unless the stripping tabs have been exquisitely designed to hold the cut out, they may pop-apart in the roller path and jam stuff real good.

hence the flat bed printer . . .

 

Typically with these things you have to feed them flat through the printer so they don’t have to wrap around anything, for DIY use. And either perforated so you only fully detach after printing, or held in place in the full sheet with tape so you peel the cut out away after printing.

[quiet1]

I had a thought - if the idea is for the people to have it as a souviner, printing it on folded up card may not be the best bet as it’s then hard to store since even if you try to flatten it, card tends to want to hang on to folds pretty firmly. 

[pastrygirl]

@gfron1 have you made any progress on this? 

 

Now that the holidays are over and I have time to revisit packaging, I'm trying to find a better solution for my chocolate bars. Since 10 versions of custom is so expensive,  a nicer printer and the custom die cutter is one option.  Do you have a printer that you recommend for high volume heavy paper? 

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, pastrygirl said:

@gfron1 have you made any progress on this? 

 

Now that the holidays are over and I have time to revisit packaging, I'm trying to find a better solution for my chocolate bars. Since 10 versions of custom is so expensive,  a nicer printer and the custom die cutter is one option.  Do you have a printer that you recommend for high volume heavy paper? 

I have one option but I need to get my color laser out of storage to see if the card stock will go through. It won't go through my home laser. DIY Printable Boxes