Outside of the Box

Staying within your box is safe but predictable. Going outside of the box is scary but where the opportunity lies. I've done both, and both have their attributes and both have their pitfalls.

But before a few days ago, it never occurred to me to make a box of my own design.

This box is a new development for me. I did not take a class; I did not see anything like it. It came straight out of my head.

It began with a "Zales" Gift Box that I decided was high quality enough to be recycled. I cut a piece of gold foil leather to fit the lid and, using the techniques I've developed while making my leather cuffs, bead embroidered it. I also tried something new. Removing the shanks from buttons that I really loved and gluing them directly into the design.

Before adhering the leather to the top of the box, I lined it in silk which I hand painted myself many years ago in response to a commission order that fell through just as I was about to deliver the goods. Although upset that the silk was not sold, I put it into my stash, always knowing that someday, somehow, I would find a use for it.

I learned about cold fabric fusion during this project. "The sticky stuff," as Eric & I grew to refer to it as it adhered to everything it touched including my tools and myself, turned out to be a wonderful item. Where I used it to adhere the fabric to the box, the fit is tight and smooth. The lining in the bottom of the box - the lining on which I learned to use the cold fusion - is much nicer than the lining in the top of the box.

I look forward to using cold fusion again in future projects.
I'm also a little bit pleased about the pictures in this post. Notice that I have, for the first time, used a little bit of background staging for added interest. I'm not going to tell you what it is, or where it came from. It just makes me happy to have taken my pictures to another level. Of course that means that I now have set my own bar to a place that will require more work in an ongoing basis. Sigh.

This box is committed and not available. I am thinking about the implications of adding something like this into my inventory. My intuition is telling me that it is a good idea although the first one, at least, was quite labor intensive. But it may be that, as with all things, practice will make me both faster and better at turning them out, and they might be something that somebody will treasure.

As it is, I am very happy with the outcome. Inside the box or out, I like what I have produced.