How many the ways to lid a box? Let me
count: oh, really, only a handful. Certainly love has more variety.
Little boxes do come in an absolute myriad of forms, of woods, of
shapes, but when it comes to the lid all are just themes and
variations on the basic handful of methods. So my twist to the
sliding lid, a popular method for pencil boxes, fine liquors, game
pieces, jigsaw puzzles, was to replace the wood with plate glass
mirror. This must be pretty novel as the first ten pages of Google
images for sliding lid box have nary a single sliding mirror lid.
The edges of the plate glass are seamed (relieved) to prevent cuts,
and the glass locks in place by virtue of a slight squeeze in the
dado groove thus requiring no catch. The mirror lid can stand
independently or be positioned upside down in its receiver.
I call this the “desktop vanity” or
perhaps the “oh-very-small secretary” or perhaps the “reflective
treasure chest” revealing the only true treasure.
The unstained box with its deep, almost
cherry-like tone is made from Brazilian Pine, Araucaria brasiliana,
related to the Monkey Puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, the national tree of Chili (above in Butchart Gardens). It is
so named because the configuration of its limbs would make it
impossible for a monkey to climb (maybe). A whole set of such boxes were made from the cutoffs remaining after fabricating this thick and heavy exterior
door, thus adhering to my career-long precept of
utilizing scraps from large projects to make unas pocas cosas.
(Sorry, couldn't help that reference to my favorite Tucson restaurant Café
Poca Cosa)
P.S. Please note that this is a quite vintage Flying Circus Studios piece, the wood amazingly failing to fail to
the mistaken joinery.
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