Using Architecture as Inspiration

I once took a Lana Wilson workshop on building boxes. She is an expert and I learned a lot.

I searched for an image of one of the boxes on the web and couldn't find any. But I remember it vividly.  At first glance, the finished piece looked like a standing sculpture with applied panels and images. But those of us who watched her build it, we knew that each feature hid a secret compartment.

A flat panel with a face sculpture applied to it slid out to reveal a drawer. Rotating to the back revealed a window, as in this piece, but the window was really the backside of another drawer located on the front behind another panel.

I also recall a jewel box that had what looked like a raised column on the lid, but if you  pulled it up, you found that the column was really a long compartment that fitted into the lid. 

I've had a photo like this one in my files for years---because I want to build a complex box sculpture based on Tibetan monasteries.

I want to make little secret compartments and hidden drawers, lids that don't look like lids that open, pull-up pieces that conceal hidden chambers, sliding panels and surprises.

It's fun to just sit and diagram or plot out designs.

How many hidden rooms and passages do you suppose are in here, if at all?

Another Amusement

I love paper; especially beautiful paper.

I love boxes too. I love making custom boxes.

This is another class I took some time ago. I learned how to make boxes from scratch. Using a grey board, I learned to construct the outside, fit drawers and fashion custom compartments. It's a lot like carpentry.

This little treasure is a carved elephant and rider I bought when we visited New Dehli in the '70s. It is such a delicate carving. (The elephant has separate, swingy earrings.) It is only about 1 1/2 inches tall and I've always been afraid it would get damaged. So, I made this keeper box based on a classic perfume box design. I even cut custom recesses in the bottom black mounting piece to fit the outline of the elephant's feet. They fit down into holes that are about 1/8 inch deep. He is kept in with tiny dollops of Museum Gel.

On the top is an antique ivory teapot knob I found in an antique store; the little dangling elephant is a family piece--an antique celuloid political token from about 1880-1900. The paper covering the box is made in India.

I have many sketches and notes on boxes in my clay files. The same principles of construction apply, with modifications for working in clay. Lana Wilson has written several good articles about how to make clay boxes.

I'm particularly interested in figuring out how to make a box with a secret compartment. I've always loved the idea of hidden rooms, sliding panels, puzzle boxes.