Obligatory finished pic. This project is several years old, but I just stumbled on the pics and thought y'all would like them.

She had a case already, but it didn't really 'fit' her.

Sure, it fit the flute just fine, but she needed something more 'her'.

Cardboard. Chalk. Sharpie. Tape Measure.

Seems good. I'm sure there are proper terms for these parts, but I'm a truck driver not a flautist.

Wish I'd taken a picture of the board I started with. Salvaged it from an old concrete form. I don't have a proper 'woodworking shop', so this was all milled and mitered on the tablesaw.

The six sides are glued together, and held with packing tape - it stretches so that when you stick it on, it pulls the joints together tightly.

The top is made from the same board as the body, split and book-matched. The Lauon under the body will be the bottom of the case.

Rabbeted the edge of the top so it sits partially inside the body. That let me keep the thickness for strength, but kept the look proportional. Here, the top and bottom are glued in place, and the box split into its top and bottom halves - the whole box was run through the tablesaw after the glue dried.

I had no real idea how to make the recesses for the parts of the flute, but I had a half-can of spray foam, so I squirted it in, then pushed scrap pieces of conduit into it. It actually worked, and reinforced the Lauon bottom.

Paying around with the finish. This is a scrap from making the top, singed with a torch.

Niece asked me to set this into the top. Chucked a router into the drill press and used it as a mill to make the recess.

Singed it, set the cross with epoxy, and Shellacked the whole thing. A lot.

Personalized it with her name and birthday, carved into the bottom - lesson learned, Lauon doesn't carve well - then coated the bottom with rubber. Gave it a nice aged look and made it non-slip.

Yeah... the joint between the Lauon and the sides is ugly. Oops.

The inside. Padded everything with a layer of foam, covered with black crushed velvet. The material is glued to the foam with headliner adhesive, and has some stretch to it so it moves with the foam.

Inside the lid. The silver dots are the heads of short galvanized nails, epoxied into holes along the top rim. They mate with magnets in the bottom rim to keep it closed.

The magnets. They and the leather edging are epoxied in place.

The magnets hold the case closed, but when carrying it your hand goes through both handles, so its impossible for it to fall open.

Closeup of the side, The top and sides are actually the same thickness, but the rabbet makes the top look thin.

Since all 6 sides and the top came from the same piece of wood, I was able to keep the grain continuous all the war around the case.

I... don't have a cat. Bird tax?