Completed Box, Ready for Shipment

Those of you that have been following the creation of this box may recall that I sent my client images of the lid in its almost completed state.  When you do things like that you run the risk of them not liking the work so far due to the quality or angle of the photograph and you know that seeing and touching the actual object will never compare to an image.   I’d like to share her response with you:

“I love it, love it, love it! My house is full of antiques. (Heck, my house is an antique – built in 1908.) So this custom box will fit right in and everyone who knows me as the music nut will understand it perfectly. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.”

Any of us that work in creative endeavors know that the satisfaction of your client means so much more than the monetary rewards.  That expression “starving artist” is a valid one as many of you may agree with.  This project was really fun for me, trying to create what someone else envisioned and having it all work out.  The wood used is African Okoume which I bought from Cook Hardwoods.  I’m on their weekly email list and the information they send is always tempting!  I enjoy working with unusual, exotic woods and as you can see in the picture, there is a lot of figure which I’ve emphasized by making sure the grain is continuous as it works its way around the box.  The mitered keys are Walnut.

The top was the biggest challenge as it’s the focal point.  It’s so nice being able to do a Goggle search for images, copy it to your Pages program and then manipulate it to fit the needed space in the project.  At her request, after carving it was gilded with copper leaf.  The toning was accomplished by first taking the sheen off with 4/0 steel wool followed by  shellac and thinned down asphaltum.  As I mentioned in the blog on that, toning is where things can go either great or horribly wrong!

In any case, the box was shipped out yesterday morning and I’m looking forward to the next commission.  It would be nice if it were a furniture piece but anything that keeps me in the shop is a good one!  Several personal projects to start that include weaving seats and building a door for the side of the garage — this western, desert exposure is murder on a mass produced, big box quality door!  Here is the final look at the completed Treble Clef box: