Jenn’s Christmas Gift: The Jewelry Box
For Jenn for Christmas, I made her a completely hand made box. How hand made? Like hand tools, like carved the wood with a scalpal not even a saw. The only power tool I used was an air powered nail gun to hold it together. I wanted to make her a chest to be used as a jewelry box or a memory box or whatever, but I wanted it to be symbolic of everythign that is us. I think it came out well, the plan was to build a box out of masonite, then frame it with carved balsa wood which I'd stain and finish to harden. The inside was felted with velvet and the bottom has a blue felt so it won't scratch the ground. I used brass fittings for the hinges and latch. I didn't take a lot of in progress pictures, so check out what I did do. It took a LONG time, and the carving was so much mess and work all over my parent's house. I first lightly drew on the balsa, then carved out the big chunks, then shaved to give it perspective. This is an awesome showcase of my woodworking skillz, and I think I've showcased both my artistic and my electronic skills, I proved my metal skills on the supercomputer, and my acrylic skills on the cube. I'm a penta-threat. Biotch.
I carved all the balsa wood with a scalpal, formed it to fit exactly around the hard masonite box. One of the things Jenn and I love is bowling, so I made one of the sides of the lid about bowling. How's it look?
We do puzzles a lot, so the other side of the lid is puzzle pieces. I like that I left a few cut out, makes it more authentic. Carving out the whole inside to make it just less deep as the border was a pain, but it is worth it.
The felted inside of the top, with the balsa showing through on the bottom. I basically felted the pieces with a 1/4 inch border with no felt before I assembled them, so it'd all go together with glue and nails.
Another angle of the lid, I think the felt looks really professional.
The inside of the main box, you can see framing with the balsa on the sides.
The front, JL for Jennifer Landers, and a pumpkin since her nickname is punkin. The jagged thing at the top is for the latch to connect to. Does that look like a pretty realistic pumpkin?
The camping scene, this was the first one I did, I think it's one of the neater ones.
This inscription on the back took an hour and a half to do. Just to show you how long this process is.
"Merry Christmas, With Love, Joe, 12-25-2005"
This was by far the hardest and most intricate one. TV, movies, and video games, it's what we're all about. But it took so long and I had to repair those little pieces so many times!
The top of the box, I had to cut angles into strips of balsa to make it founded like that, then used the scalpal to smooth the corners.
So, I finished it and stained it and gave it to Jenn, and Jenn took these finished pics. Front, side, with latch on. Notice the felt on the bottom.
Side, back, with hinges. I slopped the finish and stain on to make it seem like an ancient pirate chest or something, I think it looks pretty authentic.
Other side and hinges.
And again.
And again.
I rock the freakin hizzouse.