CRAFTING: NES Cartridge Sleeves

Remember these things?  The dust cover thingies.  If you have cartridges then you might have some... or you don't... and you need some... but you may not find the merit of paying for them online....  I didn't.  10 minutes + card stock = new sleeve

I rarely ever find them at the thrift store or anywhere outside of the net.  I knew I had been needing more but it didn't really set in until a few days ago.  A family member decided it would be a grand idea to put the NES and games they weren't playing into an open box and leave it in the basement.

So I took it out of the basement and realized most of the games where mine, so I took my games back, packaged up the system in nice lidded box, and placed it in the closet... then I realized how dusty the cartridges were... Welp, time to break out the NES cleaning kit.

Once I cleaned them up, I placed them on the shelf.  5 games unsleeved. That needed to change.  Need moar sleeves.  Might as well make some. There's some good ideas on making some online...  But the cool ones require a printer... and my ink is dried up...  I ain't spending money on this...

CRAFTING TIME.

MATERIALS:
Ruler
Pen / Pencil
Scissors
Paper (card stock)
Tape

Yup.  Paper and tape.  Janky it will be~

STEP 1:  TEMPLATE

I've got piles and piles of neon colored card stock to use, but I'd imagine double layered patterned scrap booking paper could work too.  I'll be using the white side of the card stock since the neon colors are pretty horrendous.  Even though, Amurcan as I am, I'll be using centimeters for this project.

Length - 35.5 cm (can be shorter)
Width - 25.5 cm (12 cm + 1.75 cm + 12 cm)
Cross bar lines - 1.75 cm (17.5 mm) wide


STEP 2:  START CUTTING

Now that you have your template drawn, it's time to start cutting.  Keep in mind you can't cut willy-nilly here.  There's spots that really need to paid attention to.  With you template in it's upright position, cut around the top line.

Now snip the squares in the template so that they can fold out.

Then make your final cuts through the middle of the two outside horizontal bars.  Shortening these bars helps when folding the sleeve together.  It should now look like this for both sides.

STEP 3:  FOLDING

Fold the paper on every solid line.  Begin by folding the lines over in the middle.  Bend up the tabs, the half cut bars, and fold over the single side.

Flip back what you just folded and now fold the sides.

Now your sleeve should look like this.

STEP 4:  ASSEMBLE

Now bring the sides together.

Keep the square flaps out.

Fold over the last flap over the top.

You may have a bit of excess paper sticking from the sides.  You can trim that off.

Now at this point it's helpful to slide a cartridge into the sleeve before you tape it up just to make sure you don't tape it up too tight.  Tape the edges how you please.  I taped on the sides, the bottom, and a bit on the inside.


Now for the final touch you're going to need your scissors one more time. It's time to cut out a window.  Make sure to cut the window out on the non-layered side of the sleeve.

Basic measurement for this is very basic.

From the top down on the right side - 4.5 cm
From the right side to the middle - 4.5 cm
From the left side to the middle - 4.5 cm
From the left side middle diagonal to the right side middle - 4.5 cm

Now to help the cartridge slide in easier cut a bit from the side too.

And viola~  The sleeve is done~  Congratulations~

BONUS ROUND:  DECORATE

Yup if your a cheap schlub like me using plain white paper then there's tons of room for decorating.  Draw something.  Put stickers all over it.  Or you know... draw memes on it....