I ran the construction paper through a laser printer (as in toner, not coherent light) to throw the word “Tinysaur” on the outside, and then cut the envelope shape out on the laser cutter. I didn’t really have a decent method for registration (lining up the print with the cutting) so it took a while. And folding the little envelopes turned out to be a pain.

After having to recruit friends to help me fold tiny envelopes during the holiday rush, and running out of construction paper, I got a little smarter. I started using bags with staple-tags, much easier to cut. Now they look almost respectable.

But they were still not quite ready for a retail-side display… which I realized when I was talking to a purchaser for a chain of museum shops. Oops.

Which brings me to my current matchbook-style packaging. It takes a little more energy than the staple-tag, but feels nice and solid, and gives me plenty of room for marketing copy (uh… about that…).

Next on my packaging to-dos is to redesign the instruction sheets, which I’ve been putting off for a while. Ugh.

I’m glad my boyfriend can read, even if I can’t.

These are the displays I’m using for the upcoming show. They’re laser cut/etched wood. Each stand holds a different model Tinysaur. The stand on the far left is a prototype, hence its lack of a dinosaur etching.

Each display holds about 30 Tinysaurs. Each Tinysaur is contained in its own matchbook-style packaging. I plan on using these displays to transport the Tinysaurs, but more on that later.

Designing a display takes a while, and is an iterative process. The first time I cut one, I realized the front piece was too short, and had to make a new one. I also decided the runners on the sides were too short, it looked a little stumpy.  So I added two more inches to it. Which turned out to look a little ridiculously long.

When I took the first raster-etched stand out of the laser, I realized I’d made another mistake. I forgot to mirror the right-hand runner, so the dinosaur silhouettes ended up on the wrong side. Oops.

I also had to do some experimenting with the raster image of the dino that appears on the “flag.” The line drawings have a lot of thin lines, which tends to look sort of anemic when etched. I went into Photoshop and used a combination of filters to beef up the lines. You can see the difference in this picture.

Lastly there was the issue of transport. The flags that stick out of the top make it sort of unweildy to pack, and they’re also sort of fragile. Rather than risk them breaking off in transit, I made a second set of backs which are only as tall as the sides.

Then I drilled a few holes in each side of the stand. Since I want the backs to be removable, I don’t want to glue them on. Instead I’m going to run some elastic through the holes and around the back. That way I can switch the backs out easily, and they’re held in place by elastic.

I think the elastic will work OK, but it’s sort of fiddly. I think a beter option would be to use some small bolts to keep things in place. Something to think about for the next version.

If you’re in the UK, look out for WIRED UK’s re-launch issue, Tinysaur is featured inside!

I’m helping my friend Sara at the Squidfire Holiday Market in Baltimore, Maryland on Sunday. She suggested I bring some Tinysaurs, and so I made a display to neatly hold the Tinysaur kits.

I generated the pattern with a python script I wrote, using the sdxf library.

If you’d like to make your own, the DXF files are up on Thingiverse, or you can grab the python scripts and make one to your own dimensions. I cut it on the laser, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be cut on a scroll saw.

Here you can see my first attempt, second attempt, and final. The first two were in cardboard, fantastic for prototyping.

Once all this craft show stuff is over I will probably make a few available in my Etsy shop in case folks who do craft shows are interested in one.

Processing project #1 was to generate templates to be cut on the laser cutter. Specifically paper boxes, because I needed something to package my Tinysaurs in. They end up looking like this:

You enter the depth, width, and height of the box, and Processing draws the pattern

Processing has a PDF library which I use to generate the template in PDF format, which Corel Draw is able to read. I’m looking into using Python instead of Processing, because it apparently has a nice DXF library. Although the fact that Adam scoffs at Processing makes me want to keep using it just to annoy him.

The Processing program is available in the NYC Resistor SVN repository. Which is public, hooray! The code is only vaguely commented, but it should be pretty clear what it’s doing. Maybe.

Of course you dont’ need a laser to cut these out, and xacto knife would work just fine. But… I have a laser so I use it.

If you don’t want to mess with Processing and just want to print box patterns, you can do that too. I’ve generated a bunch of sizes:

• 0.5″ cube box
  
• 2″x1.5″x1″
• 2″x2″x1.5″

You may need to right-click and save the pdf to your hard drive to get it to load.

Three tries (took a while to get the scale right) and some tweezers later… TINYSAUR

Here’s tinysaur next to Bre’s dinosaur:

If you’d like to make your own Tinysaur but lack a 35 watt CO2 laser, you can get the pre-lased kit on Etsy or if you’d rather skip the tedium and just have a tiny T-Rex, you can get a completed Tinysaur as well.