Solo Folio Prototype

image from ArtBreeder

filed under soloing on 02 Sep 2017
tagged prototype and physical

I love folders and packets and tiny things that unfold to be useful ones. But I have no real use case for a portable soloing system. I’m so rarely away from my computer it’s probably frightening, haha.

So naturally I’ve been collecting resources for one for ages, just in case. Inspired by this post I finally got around to mocking one up in Silhouette Studio.

Note: the gluing is really rough here. If I were to make a final version I’d line things up better, trim tighter, dry fit, and reinforce everything with tape. No point until the boards arrive, though.

And it is in serious need of decoration.

prototype v1 closed
Why is this upside down? I don't know.

My first version (red cardstock – “Clear Path Red” on Amazon) had two large pockets and one small one, plus a box for pencils and meeples.

In version 3 (Neenah 65lb 8.5x11 white cardstock), the left most panel has two boxes; one fitted to a standard deck of cards, the other longer and suitable for pencils, meeples, dry erase markers, d6s, or whatever. Or you could leave off the top box and glue or rubberband a small notebook in.

There should be room next to the smaller box or along one edge or both to glue a strip of receptive magnet board for holding spare magnet pieces.

version 3

That’s a pencil slot in between the boxes. Pay no attention to the pencil stopper being on the wrong side; that’s fixed in the template. I’m thinking you’d want/need a second support there, maybe a strip of paper glued across the top or a rubberband. Or velcro.

back view

And I’m not 100% certain the closing tab is long enough; I adjusted it a bit and it should be. If the slot’s a PITA, well, velcro or a rubberband.

The idea is to glue .5 inch hex paper and .5 inch grid to the back of the middle and right panel, then put a magnetic receptive sheet in each inside holder. The spacing’s only approximate at the moment since I have no magnetic boards to test with (and I suspect they’re a bit too far apart).

For general carry-stuff around use, where the items aren’t fixed in place, you’d probably want to make the pockets deeper, but that’s trivial. They could also be glued down to reinforce the edges or cut off entirely if preferred.

prototype grids

I’m thinking I could instead do one dry erase board on the left back panel, next to the hex paper (where I have the grid paper now) and the reverse on the inside, and thus have a note taking surface available next to my playing surface. But I’m bad at spatial stuff and would have to see it in practice.

I haven’t yet tested the manual print and cut version (I have a cutting machine and I am lazy), so if anyone does, please let me know if there are issues or suggestions.

Or email me if you want the Silhouette cutting file.