This is a cute craft to make a ring box treasure chest. The chest is ideal for gift boxing a ring or you could just make it for fun to hold your own rings. The Treasure chest has a look of pirates treasure or a medieval box. To make a Ring Box Treasure Chest you will need... A Treasure chest style box – you can get these for a couple of pounds at HobbyCraft, Wood stain, Brass Paint, Clear varnish, Satin Fabric, Velvet fabric, PVA glue, Thin card, And a plastic pop bottle. Give the box a light sanding. Use the wood stain to paint the out side of the box not forgetting the bottom. Paint in long straight strokes to simulate wood grain. | Click Images to enlarge them    |
When the out side of the box is dry, paint the inside with the same wood stain that you used before. The top edges need painting because they will be visible when the box is finished and paint slightly down the four sides. In the same way, paint the inside of the lid.
When the stain is dry, apply a coat of clear varnish.
With brass coloured paint, paint thin strips following the ends of the box on the ‘D’ shaped sides and follow that brass line onto the back, front and top of the box to give the classic treasure chest look. Also paint a ‘lock’ on the middle front of the box and lid.
Lining the Box
Measure all of the sides of the inside of the box and cut out thin card panels. Test the panels out to see if they will all fit neatly inside the box and inside the lid. The card panels need to be slightly smaller, rather than being a tight fit.
Put the card on top of the wrong size of the satin fabric and cut the satin 5mm bigger than the card. Apply glue to the edges of the card and stick the 5mm of fabric to the card to cover the card neatly. When you cover the ‘D’ shaped pieces of card for the lid, instead of gluing, sew a row of running stitches around the curved edge and draw up around the card.
Once all the card panels are covered, glue them into position inside the box and leave to dry. Pegs make great little clamps to hold the panels in place.
To make the arches that hold the rings you need to cut a plastic pop bottle so that it is a sheet of plastic. It’s a good idea to tape the sheet to the table with parcel tape so that you can work on it.
Draw a rectangle that is the long length of the box by the height on the bottom part of the box, doubled.
You will need to cut out 2 of these rectangles from the plastic bottle.
Lay the plastic rectangles on the wrong side of a piece of velvet side by side with the long sides about 5mm apart. Make sure that the natural curve in the plastic means that the long sides curl upwards. Cut the velvet out in one piece about 1cm bigger than the rectangles. Use the velvet to cover the plastic as you did for the satin covered card.
Push the plastic rectangles into the box so that they create an ‘m’ shape. Put the first long side of the plastic at the back of the box, and then push the other side of the plastic rectangle, plus the first edge of the next rectangle, in next. The natural curve of the bottle will help this process, but it does make it a bit springy. Then push the last long edge in the box at the front. This makes a griping ring holder to hold your rings upright.
As a final extra finishing touch, stick a clasp from a kid’s diary onto the front of the box to give it a real looking lock.
