Travel Altar/ Altar in a Box
I have a cat and my cat is an asshole. I’d love to have a big beautiful altar set up on my dresser, but Pip is the kind of cat that likes to knock things off of high places, take things that don’t belong to her and run, and hide things. To get around this, I decided to make an altar in a box. I used the small box that I already had, but you can use any size or shape box that you want!
I started with a box. Obviously. I got mine from Hobby Lobby ages ago and had stained it with a dark stain and put box corners on it so that it looked nice. I had been using it as a catch-all for oddities and found objects, but decided that I would have to use it for my altar, as it’s the only box that I have.
Step one was already done, as I had done it last year. Decorate the box. Like I said, I stained mine and added some dark box corners. I also used black ink to darken up the gold clasp so that it wasn’t so bright in comparison to the rest of the box. I wanted it to look a bit more vintage and worn.
Next, I cut a rectangular piece of fabric to line the box with. I forgot to take a picture of the fabric before gluing it in, so I quickly cut out this smaller piece to show you what I did. In order to make sure that the cloth lay flat around the edges and not bunch up, I cut off the corners. Like so.
And then I used hot glue to attach it to the box. I folded the raw edges of the fabric under so that they were hidden and the finished product looked a bit cleaner. This step was an absolute pain and I burned my fingers on the glue a few times.
After that, I cut a piece of thick board to fit inside the box. You could use cardboard or chipboard, too. I used what I had on hand. This piece of board will be used a shelf. You’ll see what I mean later. Here, I’m just making sure that the board fits. I actually ended up cutting it down a bit, because with the fabric lining in, and taking into account the fabric that will be covering the board itself, it was a bit too wide to fit inside the box.
Once I was confident that I’d cut it down to a size that would fit, I covered it with the same fabric I used to line the box. This picture shows the underside of the board where the fabric was glued down.
Next was probably the easiest step - gluing that board into the box to make our shelf. The board is glued onto the lid of the box so that when it’s closed, it sits flat against the back wall of the box, and when it’s open, it makes a little shelf! If you make this box, be sure to make the shelf narrow enough that you can still close your box. You don’t want it hitting the bottom and preventing the lid from closing all the way.
Next, we add the ribbon to the sides so that the lid stays upright when the box is open instead of falling back. Without the ribbon, your shelf is useless. I didn’t measure very well, just made sure that the ribbon wasn’t too short so that the box wouldn’t open all the way. If you’re using two ribbons like I did, it’s also important to make sure that both pieces of ribbon are the same length.
If you use something other than hot glue, you may want to do this step before you put your lining in. Because I used hot glue, I was able to peel back the front corners of the lining so that I could glue the ribbon down, and then replace the fabric over top so that the end of the ribbon was hidden underneath.
I ran out of hot glue for the second ribbon, so I was forced to switch to E600, which works very very well, but takes some time to dry. I glued down the ribbon and let it dry enough that it wouldn’t move around, then glued the lining back in place. I used binder clips to hold the fabric in place while it dried.
I left the project while it dried and went to eat dinner. When I came back, I was able to take the clips off, and the box was done!
At this point, you can decorate the inside of your box how you see fit! If you make one of these for yourself, be sure to tag me! I’d love to see what you come up with. Happy crafting and blessed be.
Some notes:
When gluing in the lining, put the glue on the box, not the fabric. This allows you to fold under the edge of the fabric and stick it down without burning yourself.
Before you cut your shelf, take into account that there is going to be fabric covering the board and the box, making the fit a bit snugger. Don’t do what I did and cut your board, then have to go back and shave some more material off so that it fits.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR CHOSEN ADHESIVE TO FINISH THE PROJECT.
If you have fat hands like I do, you may want to use only one ribbon, on the opposite side of your dominant hand. I’m right-handed, so I may end up going back and cutting off the ribbon on the right side of the box.
-Vyrian
