I have seen some images and videos of flat boxes that incorporate a piece with a pattern cut into it that conforms to the contents to hold it in place. The pattern looked pretty easy to replicate for cutting with a laser or CNC cutting machine, and Deirdre Beth in the Glowforge community forum saved me the trouble.

I needed a simpler gift box for one of the D20 chonks than the fancy wooden ones I made. It occurred to me that two conforming pieces would do a great job of holding a chonk in place for shipping.

The box is my quick reproduction of a standard design like I use for shipping the dice reliquaries, cut from my dwindling stash of Violet Curious Skin cover stock. I thought a Celtic knot on the faces of the box would be nice. Because I didn’t want an hour-long laser job engraving them, I used a hatch fill and scored them instead. I put the Everrmore ambigram on the bottom as a maker’s mark.

The inserts are cut from the Silver Curious Metallics card stock. I wanted something light that would make the contents stand out.

This works every bit as well as I had hoped. Once ensconced, no amount of shaking seems to cause any movement of the die inside at all. It should be great for shipping, and make for a fun presentation.

A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns the visible face. The top is open. Inside is a silver-colored paper insert with an intricately cut lattice that allows it to conform to the shape of the object that rests on it. There is currently nothing there, and the insert is flat and unbent. The two silver lattice-cut inserts for the chonk box. These are squares with tabs folded down on each edge. A pattern of lines that almost seems to be a stylized representation of cubes are cut into the square surface. This pattern allows the surface to conform to anything pressed into it. A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns the visible face. The top is open. Inside is a silver-colored paper insert with an intricately cut lattice that allows it to conform to the shape of the object that rests on it. There is currently nothing there, but the lattice is deformed from holding a roughly spherical object. A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns the visible face. The top is open. Inside a purple and yellow 20-sided die sits on a silver-colored paper insert with an intricately cut lattice that allows it to conform to the shape of the die. A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns the visible face. The top is open. Inside is a silver-colored paper insert with an intricately cut lattice that allows it to conform to the shape of the object beneath it (a large 20-sided die). A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns each face. A small semi-circle is cut from the top front to make the box easier to open. Three-quarter top-down view. A 2.5"/63mm cubic purple box sits on a pearlescent white surface. A Celtic hatch-filled knotwork design adorns each face except the bottom. On the bottom is engraved an ambigram that reads evermore in two orientations.

2-minute assembly video:

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