Butterfly Explosion Box

This Instructable will cover the construction of a "butterfly explosion box", a box out of which will spring four wound-up butterflies.

• Several sheets of firm chipboard; in my case, I used seven sheets of 100lb. chipboard that were 8.5"x11" to make a single box (inner, outer, and lid). Heavier chipboard will be difficult to cut without some kind of saw, and lighter chipboard will be flimsy and may not hold its shape well
• Some sheets of 12"x12" decorative paper; I used one whole sheet to create my four vertical sides, one sheet to create the bottom and a third sheet to create the lid; if I had also wanted to line the inner box with such paper, I would have needed at least two more 12"x12" sheets (or possibly smaller ones)
  • Alternatively, the box can also be covered with fabric. How best to attach that fabric to the chipboard will depend greatly on the fabric, though the spray adhesive mentioned below will work well for most
• Spray adhesive. I have tried several, and it is difficult to offer a definite recommendation, but Gorilla Glue spray adhesive seems to hold well
  • If you are using fabric, a liquid fabric adhesive may be helpful for creating the hinges
• A few inches of Iron-on fabric webbing for creating the eight paper hinge. If using fabric, some fabrics will not withstand ironing and therefore you may wish to use the fabric adhesive for these hinges
• Several sheets of newsprint paper to catch the overspray of the adhesive
• Several sheets of blank printer paper (or, if you like, more decorative paper, if you have it to spare) for lining the box and of making the paper hinges; these hinges may also be made out of fabric
• Four wind-up butterflies (which can be acquired on Amazon for about a dollar a piece-- don't bother making your own, they take too much time and seldom work correctly)
• Two large rubber bands to arm the box

Tools:

• Ruler
• Paper cutter, as it is almost impossible to cut chipboard this thick with a scissors or even an X-acto knife. I used my Beseler Rota-Trim 24" cutter
  • If you are using fabric, the Rota-Trim will also work very well for most. A handheld fabric rotary cutter can also be used of the cuts, so long as these are made straight

Begin by preparing the chipboard:

• Cut out five pieces of 5"x5" board for the sides and bottom of the outer box
• Cut another piece slightly larger (5 1/4"x5 1/4") for the lid, and four strips of it for the sides (each 5 1/4" x 3/4"--ignore the one-inch size mark on the diagram, 1" is really too wide)
• Cut out two pieces of 4"x5" chipboard and two more of 3"x5" for the inner box

Then cut the paper with which you want to cover them.

• For each of the 5"x5" boards, cut a 6" square of decorative paper, and cut the corners off of each of these squares 1/2" in from each corner.
• For the lid, you will need a single sheet of paper that is 8"x8". Do not cut off the corners of this piece.
• Next you will need to cut liners for the five 5"x5" pieces. These can be decorative or just functional, but you will need five of them either way. Each should be 4 3/4" x 4 3/4" square
• If you wish to cover the inner box with decorative paper as well, you will need to cut corresponding pieces of paper for these. You can infer the dimensions of these pieces from the above sizes.

The next step is the adhering of the decorative and liner papers to the chipboard.

• Place the 5 pieces of 5"x5" chipboard down on a large piece of newspaper, and place the five pieces of 6"x6" decorative paper, with the decorative side down, along side them
• Spray all upward facing surfaces with a light coating of spray adhesive
• Now flip each chipboard piece over and place it in the center of the corresponding piece of decorative paper, sticky sides together. The directions on your can of spray adhesive may encourage you to wait a minute or two before doing this, but I find I get excellent adhesion after waiting no more than a few seconds
• Press each down firmly.

To finish the edges and attach the liners:

• Place each of the chipboard and decorative paper elements on a second clean piece of newspaper with the decorative part facing down.
• Along side these place the five pieces of liner paper.
• Put a light coating of spray adhesive over all of the upper surfaces of these
• Now, take one of the pieces of chipboard and fold in the four edges, pressing them firmly into place
• Place a liner piece over the rest of the chipboard piece, sticky sides together
• Do this for each of the five pieces, working quickly
• You should finish with five pieces of completely covered chipboard.

The paper hinges can be attached next. Each is just a strip of paper which I have adhered in place using iron-on fabric webbing. For the outside four sides of the box, It is important that each strip extend along the entire length of the side it is hinging. If this is not done, the bottom of the box will bulge outward when it is armed with the butterflies. Each strip, therefore, needs to be five inches long (you need four of these for the outside box, which means four 5" long hinges) and each should be at least an inch (better off two inches) wide.

Spray adhesive will not tend to hold these in place with sufficient strength, which is why I used and strongly suggest webbing. Each of the side pieces should lay right up against and touching an edge of the bottom piece.before ironing the paper hinges and webbing in place-- you should not leave any kind of gap between these pieces, since these hinges will be folding upward and inward.

If you are very clever you can cut a single cross-shaped piece of paper that is 7" on a side and has 1" squares cut out of each corner, and if you center this on the inside of your bottom piece, you can use it to create all four hinges for the outer box at once. You cannot do this for the inner box because its parts do not lay flat, but you can do it with the outer box. You will need to make sure your measurements are rather exact to do this successfully, but it will be quicker than creating four separate hinges and ironing each in place. If you create the hinges this way, you will still want to use iron-on webbing to secure it in place, right up to the edges of each of the outer box pieces as well as all over the inside of the bottom piece. If this sheet of paper is loose in the middle, the inner box pieces will not stand up correctly, and if loose at the edges it will not hold the outer box pieces in place securely.

Once the hinges have been placed, you should be able to lift your box from one side and have the whole thing lift up as though it were a single flat cross-shaped piece of decorated chipboard. If the side pieces sag downward when you do this, this means you have not attached them snugly enough against the bottom piece-- you left gaps where you needed to leave no gaps! Fortunately, since you used iron-on webbing to attach the hinges, you can use the same iron to liquefy the webbing, lift up and replace the paper hinge, and relocate the pieces closer together so that they touch all along the edge.

If you have used fabric to create your hinges, and have used liquid fabric adhesive to attach them, then you will not be able to relocate these hinges once the glue has dried. In this case, you must do your best to fix the problem by placing additional adhesive into the hinges, pinching them solidly with a butterfly clip or clamp, letting them dry, and testing the box again. Webbing is forgiving; adhesive is not.

A word about using webbing: the goal is to create hinges that are tight-- so that when the sides are folded up, there is only the very smallest gap between them. They will come together well enough at the top, but the real trick is to get them to have no gaps at the bottom! To do this, if you are using webbing, it will be important that the webbing is laid right over the line where the side pieces attach to the bottom piece. If your webbing is not placed directly over this line, then you will end up with a gap between the bottom and the side piece when it is folded up, which will look clumsy.

The goal is to create a box which does not look like it is about to come springing apart once opened. If there are gaps around the sides, this will give things away. Also, if your paper or fabric has a directional pattern, it will be important that this pattern run the same direction (either horizontally or vertically, your choice) around all four sides of the box (for the bottom and the lid, this will not matter, but for the sides, if the paper/ fabric has a directional pattern, it will be very important).

Alternative method:

It is also possible, and perhaps preferable, to create the inner box in exactly the same way as the outer box but without a lid: cut a 3"x4" piece of chipboard to be the the bottom of this box, and decorate it and attach the hinges and sides as you did the outer box. Once assembled and dried, it should then be glued to the inside center of the base of the outer box. Creating the inner box this way allows it to be made with a flat upper surface which will make attaching the four hinges much easier. It will also allow the four sides to drop open more easily when the box is opened. This method uses up some more of your chipboard, but the increased ease of construction will make this worth your while.

The lid is more complicated. It can be done a variety of ways. Here is one way:

The picture is worth a thousand words. Use spray adhesive, place all of the pieces as shown, adhere together, then cut the tabs, and fold up the edges, making sure you have left the indicated gap. I wrote longer more detailed instructions, but the Instructables app accidentally deleted them and I do not feel like recreating them. You should easily get the idea from the photos, however.

The next step is to create the inner box using the four inner box pieces. These are created using hinge joints like the ones used to attach the box side pieces to the bottom piece, except that here we will be attaching two surfaces that are not at the same level (which makes it slightly trickier) and we will be attaching the two smaller pieces slightly inside the two larger ones.

There are two "bigger" inner box pieces and two "smaller" ones. Adhere the "bigger" ones 1/2" in from the edges of the box by laying them flat in place and then covering the inside edge with a paper hinges joint. Make sure that there are at least 3" between them on the inside. Now place the remaining 3" pieces between these, and create hinge joints for them the same way. In the end, your 3" wide pieces should fold up and inside of your 4" wide pieces.

However you cut or place these pieces, you must be certain to not place them so close to the outer box sides that you cannot fit the butterflies between them, nor so far from those sides that the butterflies will come untwisted once they have been inserted. It needs to be a gap of very close to 1/2" wide to meet these requirements.

The next step is to create supporters/ tabs for both the inside and outside boxes so that they cannot collapse in on themselves, I created my supporters from small rectangles of chip board (about 1/4"x1/2") stacked three high and attached with hot glue to each other and to the box sides. Place two such supporters on the inside top edges of the two opposing sides of the 4" wide inner box pieces and two more on any two opposing outer box sides. They should be placed about 1/8" in from the edges of each piece to which they are attached. Make sure the glue holding them is SOLID. If it is not, the side may collapse inward. Hot glue is fast, but unless you apply it while very hot it may not make a strong enough bond. Elmer's is better, but takes several hours to dry.

Now that the box is assembled, it is time to arm it.

• Begin by folding up the four inside panels of the inner box. Use the supporter tabs to prevent it from collapsing in on itself.
• Raise the sides of the inner box and wrap it from the outside with single appropriately-sized rubber band
• Do the same to the outer box with a second rubber band.
• Once both boxes are secured, it is time to add the butterflies.
• If you want your butterflies to "fly", you will need to curve the forewings slightly (see photo) and you must then wind those wings in the direction of the curve you have created, whichever direction that is. A pencil or similar may work well for curling the wings. Make sure you create these curls in the same direction (clockwise or counterclockwise, your choice) on both wings, and that you then twist them that same direction.
• Once you have 20-30 windings on the wings, insert each butterfly into the spaces between the inner and outer boxes. Do not wind them 40 times, as this will cause them to come unwound inside the box.
• Remove the rubber band from the inner box by lifting it out gently, being careful not to disturb the butterflies
• Attach the box lid.
• Gently slip the remaining outer rubber band DOWN off the outer box.
• Your butterfly box is now armed and ready for action!

The box was the hard part to make, but the magic lies in the butterflies themselves. To this end, you will want butterflies that fly as high and far as possible when the box is opened. The following notes and tips are here to assist with this. The box will probably "explode" just fine even if you do none of these things, but for the perfectionist, the following should be quite useful for getting the greatest possible bang out of your butterfly explosion box buck!

Notes on the butterflies: the rubber bands these come with are usually pretty crappy, but are also, it turns out, ideal: they will tend to oxidize fairly quickly (within two or three months) and will become sticky and lose their tension, but they have the ideal built-in strength while fresh and will allow the butterflies to fly far and wide. If you replace them with common "fresh" rubber bands from your own rubber band drawer, you will find that the butterfly will fly not nearly as far nor will it remain airborne nearly as long, though it may have a fast takeoff. Such is the nature of rubber bands. This is because most "American" rubber bands (though they may still come from China) are designed for greater strength and less stretch. When used in a butterfly, this will cause them to unwind too quickly. You need to stick with the ones that originally come with the butterflies if you want them to really fly. The Chinese thought of this already. While waiting to use the butterflies, keep them inside their original plastic bags or else in fresh zip-loc bags with the air removed. The enemies of rubber are light and oxygen. The bags do not need to be completely air tight, they just need to keep air from circulating around the rubber.

Another tip: as already mentioned, the upper wings need to be curled in order to maximize flight time. But every moment the butterflies sit in their box, all armed and ready to go, there is tension that is trying to flatten out these wings. I have found that sometimes this causes the wings to lose their curl, and for their flights to then be disappointing when leaving the box. One solution (which is desperate, but works) is to place a very short strand of curved metal band taken from inside a manual watch winding mechanism and using superglue to attach the strip to the wing. Doing this ensures the wing will retain its curve in transit. This is a perfectionist modification to the wings, and is certainly not necessary to have them work fine, but it will maximize the "wow!" factor of the box. Most people do not keep a tray of watch winding mechanisms on hand to do this with, however.

Another tip: replacing the wings with ones you make yourself is risky: the paper needs to be at least as stiff as the one the butterflies come with (thickness about 0.07mm) which is thicker than regular printer paper. Also, the paper needs to be decorated on both sides, so if you attempt to generate new wings using your printer, you will have to try to line up the front and back sides of the printout, which is a total hassle and only worth the effort in exceptional circumstances. Also, consider that the person receiving the box will likely not even notice the colors on the wings as the box is opened. The fluttering flight of the butterflies will completely absorb them for the one second this lasts. They really could be any color, so long as they fly. The curvature of the wings is much more important than whatever color they are, as this is the thing which will determine flight direction and distance.

Reiterated tip: when winding up the butterfly, you must wind them in the direction of the curve of the forewings. Think of the outermost point of these wings as being your direction-of-twist, and twist the wings in this direction. If you twist the wings the wrong way, the butterfly will "launch" backwards, and will go nowhere at all. Try this a few times before you make and finalize your box. The direction of twist will depend entirely on which way the forewings are curved. It could be either direction, so be sure to check this before you finalize your box. If the wings are simply flat, the butterfly will still fly, just not upwards. Since there are four of them to distract the recipient, this may not matter so much.

Also important: the butterflies will be under tension. If the gap between the outer box and the inner box is too great, or if you wind the butterflies too tightly, they will start unwinding inside the box. Not good. Make sure that A.) the gap between the outer and inner boxes is no more than 1/2" AT MOST, and 2.) do not wind the butterflies beyond about 30 turns. If a butterfly starts to become unwound in transit, there is nothing you will be able to do to do stop it. It will just become a "dead" butterfly. That's okay, so long as the remaining 3 butterflies are still live.

Further tip:

The other thing that the butterflies need to maintain a semi-direct flight path is they need to have stable flat rear wings. The whole time the butterflies are inside the box waiting to be set off, these rear wings are slowly being curved opposite the forewings. After enough time, this curvature will be enough to compromise the flight. The solution is analogous to the one for getting the forewings to curve: small pieces of watch spring. this kind of metal is easily straightened out with the fingernails, and then a small strip of it can be cut off and glued perpendicular to and attached to the body on each of the rear wings. Doing this will greatly improve their ability to withstand the pressure from the forewings while in the box, and will allow the butterflies to travel further and in more rectilinear flight path. Again, you need to have watch springs around to do this. They are extremely light, extremely strong (without being too brittle) and are easy to attach. They are also quite discrete. You could try reinforcing these parts of the wings with paper instead, but the paper is probably going to add significantly to the overall weight, and slow the butterfly down-- the metal watch spring piece, despite being metal, will not do this.

Another butterfly tip: make sure the wings are securely attached to the plastic parts. Often the glue used to hold them in place is insufficient, and if a paper wing comes loose, it will not allow the butterfly to fly when the box is opened. Check each wing and use dabs of superglue to hold any loose wings in place. You may also want to use superglue to make sure the folds used to attach the wings lie flat.

Ideally, the box should be tested before you use it on someone. Leave it sit armed for a day or two, and then try opening it up yourself and see what happens. Some of the sides may not fall down. The lid might get stuck. One of the butterflies might have come unwound inside the box. Any number of other things might go wrong. You will only figure out what these things are by practicing opening the box a few times, and rearming it, and opening it again. It is best to wait between openings to give the box a little while to "settle" into its armed state.

Once you are convinced you have a stable armed box, it is time to deliver it! A butterfly explosion box will only surprise a person once in his or her lifetime. Such a moment of wonder is worth recording!!! Do your best to make sure that someone is recording the moment! I usually deliver my boxes with a set of instructions that tell the recipient to have someone recording them as they open the box. As I just said, you cannot ever surprise someone with such a box twice. It is worth capturing that moment of wonder when it happens. And the videos are always fun for everyone to watch afterwards, including the box's recipient. This is also why it is so important to make the box correctly and to test it before delivering it to someone. If the box gets opened and the cameras are rolling and for some reason nothing happens, the surprise is over and the moment is lost. Leave yourself time to let the finished and armed box sit for at least a few days before you deliver it so that you can see if it will work the way it is intended. If it does not, then you will have time to correct the problem before it goes before the recipient.

This box is a wonderful surprise for both kids and adults, men and women, all cultures, all ethnicities, regardless of language. They are amazing at birthdays, and no one will ever forget the time that the bride opened one at her wedding and all those butterflies came whizzing out!

If you are trepidatious about constructing your own butterfly explosion box and would rather have it put together by someone experienced, there are people on the Internet who specialize in their construction such as Sendacake.com which charge about $50 a piece for them. They are worth every penny of that. I am not affiliated with them and was not paid to mention them here, I am only mentioning them as a resource.