It may not be immediately obvious to the casual observer that I’m a boxer. No, not the pugilistic type with aggressive stance and cauliflower ears; nor obviously the canine variety with wagging tail and German ancestry. My claim to the title of boxer is because of a hobby interest in a branch of craft woodwork – namely Trinket box making.
Thinking back, I realize now that it all began many years ago when in about Grade Five or Six at primary school my teacher, Sister Bernadette, frustrated perhaps by our lack of interest or capacity in the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, introduced us to the basic hands on task of sanding and painting/varnishing a wooden object of our own choice, which in my case turned out to be a cigar box.
That little box took pride of place for many years on my mother’s bedroom dressing table until her passing years ago, when it once again came back into my possessions.*
Now some seventy five years later that seed of interest sown so long ago has germinated and emerged as an interesting, hands on, craft hobby which is satisfyingly creative and perhaps even produces something marginally useful. It certainly fills a gap in my other life – the life of retirement after 50 years of full time work.
Trinket boxes, sometimes also called jewel boxes, go back a long way – many centuries in fact. A trinket box was not the kind of box you used every day; in the past it was a special place to keep and protect mementos, jewellery or heirloom pieces sued on special occasions. Today for most people it’s more likely to be a receptacle for more prosaic stuff such as coins, spare keys or the blank USB memory stick that is rarely available when needed.
Specialist makers such as Faberge and Limoge still, I believe, produce much sought after boxes in porcelain and precious metal for the top end market.
My own efforts are of wooden construction and quite basic in design.
Sometimes in the wee small hours an idea for a trinket box design a little different from the last emerges from nowhere and provides the motivation to leap out of bed at the crack of dawn to convert the idea to reality before it is lost forever. That process consists basically of preparing a sketch, construction steps, selecting wood, choosing hinge and latching arrangements – a process which I hope keeps ageing grey matter lubricated and functional for a little longer.
Finally, a really good thing about trinket box making is the fact that someone, somewhere, is likely to be interested and willing to take on my last effort and give it space in their day to day lives which justifies the time and effort that went into its building.
Thinking back, I realize now that it all began many years ago when in about Grade Five or Six at primary school my teacher, Sister Bernadette, frustrated perhaps by our lack of interest or capacity in the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, introduced us to the basic hands on task of sanding and painting/varnishing a wooden object of our own choice, which in my case turned out to be a cigar box.
That little box took pride of place for many years on my mother’s bedroom dressing table until her passing years ago, when it once again came back into my possessions.*
Now some seventy five years later that seed of interest sown so long ago has germinated and emerged as an interesting, hands on, craft hobby which is satisfyingly creative and perhaps even produces something marginally useful. It certainly fills a gap in my other life – the life of retirement after 50 years of full time work.
Trinket boxes, sometimes also called jewel boxes, go back a long way – many centuries in fact. A trinket box was not the kind of box you used every day; in the past it was a special place to keep and protect mementos, jewellery or heirloom pieces sued on special occasions. Today for most people it’s more likely to be a receptacle for more prosaic stuff such as coins, spare keys or the blank USB memory stick that is rarely available when needed.
Specialist makers such as Faberge and Limoge still, I believe, produce much sought after boxes in porcelain and precious metal for the top end market.
My own efforts are of wooden construction and quite basic in design.
Sometimes in the wee small hours an idea for a trinket box design a little different from the last emerges from nowhere and provides the motivation to leap out of bed at the crack of dawn to convert the idea to reality before it is lost forever. That process consists basically of preparing a sketch, construction steps, selecting wood, choosing hinge and latching arrangements – a process which I hope keeps ageing grey matter lubricated and functional for a little longer.
Finally, a really good thing about trinket box making is the fact that someone, somewhere, is likely to be interested and willing to take on my last effort and give it space in their day to day lives which justifies the time and effort that went into its building.
*Brian's first trinket box, so treasured by his mother, is the one closest to the front.
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