Curly Maple & Rosewood Jewelry/Display box

Dave Minnich

Member
Messages
76
Location
Hendersonville, NC
Well, my oldest niece graduates from HS this weekend, so I got a chance to play in the shop with some curly maple. As others have found out, it's hard to take a picture of curly maple that adequately captures the amount of figure present. Every single surface of this box has great figuring, but the pictures don't show all of it. :huh:
LOML made the cross-stitch panel, and I think it looks great on display.

The accent wood is rosewood... the highly figured mirror frame is from a small board of INCREDIBLE wild grain Honduran Rosewood. It didn't look like burl, but I have to wonder.

Finish is sprayed clear shellac, 1.5# cut for each of 5 coats, rubbed out with a synthetic finishing pad after everything had a chance to harden.

Comments/questions welcome. Thanks for looking,


--dave

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WOW... that is one special box Dave, and the cross stitch is a big extra.. could you give us a close up of the cross sticth.. i am amazed at the detail in the butterflies.. your joinery is top notch and i like the rose wood trim as well!!!
 
Thanks, everyone. It really was a fun project, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. My first experience with spraying shellac, and I'll definitely do it again.

That needle point(?) is perfect for that box and a great idea. Did you do that also?

@Paul, no, my wife did the cross-stitch. That came first and I designed the box around it. She does a great job with it. This is the first such cooperative project we've done, but I'm sure there will be more.


...could you give us a close up of the cross sticth.. i am amazed at the detail in the butterflies.. your joinery is top notch and i like the rose wood trim as well!!!

@Larry, sure, here you go. I should have taken a picture of the reverse side of the piece before it was stretched and mounted... it's almost as pristine as the front. As for the joinery, you didn't see the first lid I made before I realized my miter saw was about a degree out of true. :D

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Beautiful work. Now, for an ugly job, you need to paint your patio table (just like mine). Look in the mirror!

Now Charlie, you weren't supposed to notice that!!! :rofl: Yup, that's probably a project for this summer. :^)
 
thanks dave for the close ups,, i have seen the work that goes into cross stitch work and the detail your wife has there is spot on.. i am sure the gal that gets this box will grin for many years each time she looks at it setting there..
 
That is one great team project.

The box is a keeper for sure. My sister-in-law did quite a bit of cross-stitch. She made some pretty things. I guess I didn't pay enough attention however. How did your wife get the color highlights to fade and blend giving such realism?

Enjoy,
JimB
 
That is one great team project.

The box is a keeper for sure. My sister-in-law did quite a bit of cross-stitch. She made some pretty things. I guess I didn't pay enough attention however. How did your wife get the color highlights to fade and blend giving such realism?

Enjoy,
JimB

Jim,

I'm not sure I know all her secrets, but one of them is to use finer fabric. The fabric for counted cross stitch has small squares in it to delineate the stitches. The more squares per inch, the more realistic the pattern. Think of it as resolution, similar to your computer monitor… the higher the resolution the better the image (and the less pixelization). Another technique is to blend from one color to the next by using multiple strands of floss of different colors to make a single stitch. So, the 1st square has 2 strands of blue, the next one has one blue and one purple, and the next has 2 purple.


--dave
 
That is just amazing. A treasure for sure. Good job Aunt and Uncle. Have you two signed and dated the bottom in a Sharpie? That way 100 years from now family will know who made it for who. That box is a keeper/heirloom for sure.
 
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