Curved-score pillow gift box
A one-piece lens-section gift carton with four curved scored end flaps, staggered overlapping closures and an integral side glue lap.
Materials
- 160-180 gsm flexible card (0.18-0.25 mm thick)
- Scissors
- Blunt scoring stylus and soft mat
- Ruler
- PVA glue
Finished size: 64 wide x 100 long x 20 thick mm (idealized)
Steps
CutValley foldMountain foldGlue area
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Print and cut
Print at 100% and measure the 50 mm ruler. Cut P1 only on the solid perimeter, including its narrow side tab. Do not cut the four curved dashed lines.
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Score the curves
Keep the printed face toward you: this will be the inside. With a blunt stylus on a yielding mat, score all four dashed curves as smooth arcs and the two long straight dashed side folds. Do not score the unmarked cylinder tessellation. Gently preflex the end flaps inward.
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Bow the body
The two broad panels are separated by the long middle score. Curl each across its width, leaving its length straight. Fold at the middle score so the printed faces face each other, forming a lens section about 64 mm wide and 20 mm thick. Do not flatten the curved end scores.
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Glue the side lap
Fold the 8 mm tab at the far right inward. Apply a thin film of PVA to its unprinted face and place it under the leftmost straight edge, aligning that edge with the tab-root score. Bond the full 8 x 68 mm dotted region to the inside of the left panel. Align the 100 mm body length; the right panel ends are inset 0.6 mm. Hold the lens section and let the seam dry fully.
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Close the first end
At one end, press the right-panel flap (the panel next to the glue tab) inward first along its curved score. It forms the deeper inner lid. Then press the left-panel flap over it. Allow both to bow; do not crease the lids straight across. Their free edges tuck inside the opposite wall with 0.4 mm center relief; the overlapping lids are offset 0.6 mm axially. Do not glue the lids.
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Fill and close
Insert a small light gift through the other end, leaving the end-flap sweep clear. Close the right-panel flap first, then the left-panel flap. Check that neither catches the side lap and that both remain gently concave. Open by lifting the left-panel outer flap at its edge. If the stock buckles or springs open, do not force it: physical stock/score tuning is still pending.
Notes
The 3D model shows each piece in its finished, idealized shape; the exploded view only spreads the pieces apart. It is not a paper-physics simulation: curved shapes are forming guides, not exact physical folding or proof of developability, and intermediate fold shapes are not supplied.
- Original one-piece curved-crease pillow carton. Physical printing, scoring, closure and load tests pending.
- Two 68.089 mm developed panels form a 64 mm chord and 20 mm central thickness. The length is 100 mm at the pointed sides; the central closed cavity is about 79.4 mm long.
- The body is two circular cylindrical patches, not an inflated ellipsoid. Each lid is the same cylinder reflected across a diagonal plane through its curved score. This preserves lengths in the smooth limit; gently bow and snap the curved scores, never force a straight hinge.
- The four curved scores use 80 short segments each. Cylinder chord sampling changes mesh edge lengths by at most 0.00096 percent. This is a final zero-thickness configuration, not a simulated folding path or stiffness proof.
- Side lap: 8.0 mm developed width (7.993 mm chord), 68.0 mm long, 544 square mm bonded area. Tab-to-inner-score axial clearance is at least 11.327 mm over its width.
- The right-panel inner lids sit 0.6 mm inward of the left-panel outer lids. Conservative smooth-surface normal separation is 0.493 mm; with card no thicker than 0.25 mm the nominal remaining face gap is at least 0.24 mm. Corner thickness and score compression are not simulated.
- Free lid edges have tapered relief, 0.4 mm at the center and zero at the pointed sides. Opposing lids overlap by 19.2 mm across the central thickness. Pointed corners are not dust-tight. The seam has coincident contact faces, with no simulated glue thickness.
- Use thin flexible 160-180 gsm card, measured thickness 0.18-0.25 mm. Closure retention and springback depend on stock and scoring and remain physically unverified. For small lightweight gifts only; no load rating.