Project Information
In 1948 my father proposed to my mother, with roses. They married, had six children and lived a long good life with fondness for each other till the end.
My mother was a careful saver of sentimental things. I have all the 900+ cards that they gave each other through the years and when we sorted out and went away with all the many other things they accumulated in that 63 year span I found a picture frame containing my mother's drying and pressing of those flowers. They were quite faded and found to be as delicate as a butterfly's wing. I built a dark and quiet display case in their memory.
To help bring back the colour and give them some protection I dusted them from a distance with shellac and then sprayed two coats. The colours are still only a faded approximation of what anything is while it's alive. Imperfect memories are all we have of many things.
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The construction of the box was done with walnut veneered industrial panels (pc), lipped with thin solid after pressing and mitering, over to the shooting board and then taped together. I wanted the least break in the wrapped pattern and the most light tight so I mitred the lid as well. Because of that choice a lid stay was impossible, and I've no real love of chains so an exterior elliptical stop came about.
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As well, I thought long and hard about those mitred gaps on the back, but there seemed to be no way to do them honestly and I was past my only chance when I thought about it properly. So they live.
This is elm burl with various shades of similar grained mahogany trim. Split leather lines the interior and the underside of the top. The handles and feet were what I imagined to be evocative shapes from that era and were also drawn from those very real flowers.
Ordinary butt hinges, polished. Spray shellac (2), Tried and True with varnish (5), Goddard's wax.
11 3/4" x 8 3/8" x 5 1/8"
About 36 hrs.
Build on LJ's.
gene
I recessed the bottom to allow for a photo vault and to hold written papers.
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details
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My mother was a careful saver of sentimental things. I have all the 900+ cards that they gave each other through the years and when we sorted out and went away with all the many other things they accumulated in that 63 year span I found a picture frame containing my mother's drying and pressing of those flowers. They were quite faded and found to be as delicate as a butterfly's wing. I built a dark and quiet display case in their memory.
To help bring back the colour and give them some protection I dusted them from a distance with shellac and then sprayed two coats. The colours are still only a faded approximation of what anything is while it's alive. Imperfect memories are all we have of many things.
The construction of the box was done with walnut veneered industrial panels (pc), lipped with thin solid after pressing and mitering, over to the shooting board and then taped together. I wanted the least break in the wrapped pattern and the most light tight so I mitred the lid as well. Because of that choice a lid stay was impossible, and I've no real love of chains so an exterior elliptical stop came about.
As well, I thought long and hard about those mitred gaps on the back, but there seemed to be no way to do them honestly and I was past my only chance when I thought about it properly. So they live.
This is elm burl with various shades of similar grained mahogany trim. Split leather lines the interior and the underside of the top. The handles and feet were what I imagined to be evocative shapes from that era and were also drawn from those very real flowers.
Ordinary butt hinges, polished. Spray shellac (2), Tried and True with varnish (5), Goddard's wax.
11 3/4" x 8 3/8" x 5 1/8"
About 36 hrs.
Build on LJ's.
gene
I recessed the bottom to allow for a photo vault and to hold written papers.
details
