Cello Box

MuesliMama, member

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I'm a cello maker and have lots of scraps from pegbox cut-offs.  So I thought it would be cool to make a different sort of box from what I had lying around.  I tried to include some of the design elements of a violin without having the end result look kitchy, and the violin corner makes for a nice lift on the lid.  The hinge is made of ebony from an old fingerboard and was meant to somewhat allude to the tailpiece.

For the finish, I varnished it as I do my instruments, and then I antiqued it to try and make it look like a 200 year old, well-used sort of box.  The materials are spruce, maple, and ebony.

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Comments (15)

dclark1943 writes: What a wonderful creative use of wood! Outstanding!
Posted: 12:10 pm on April 11th

kmack writes: Having gone to the North Bennet St. School for furniture, I was fortunate enough to spend some down time in the violin dept. Your Box reminds me of those days. Fantastic work.
Posted: 11:37 pm on April 7th

Benthoven writes: Wow, Congratulations! That is a truly captivating piece, I just can't stop looking at it!! Of course, being a pro upright bass player, and a pipe organ builder/restorer in my first career, there's lots for me to appreciate! I'd love to see pics of some of your tools - particularly your fingerplanes, special scrapers and the gouges and knives you use for your purflings and inlays. I'm really inspired by your artistry on this. Thanks for your explanations on the enigmatic violin finishing arts, too!
Posted: 11:25 am on April 1st

Emeralds writes: I don't usually pay too much attention to boxes but the recent challenge perked my interest to see what types of invoations would emerge. There are a huge number of beautiful, creative, quirky inspired pieces entered in the contest but your design has managed to include all those aspects and still remain simple.

Outstanding design.
Posted: 10:32 am on April 1st

sawdust machine writes: Wonderful. I particularly appreciate the asymmetry which seems to suggesting both a cello and a crashing wave evoking a cello crescendo. As an apprentice at inlay/purfling, I admire the way the purfling follow the contour to the corner.

Does the hinge have any screws or is it simply glued to the box and top? And I too would like to see inside the box.

Wonderful work - Congratulations and thanks for your explanations.
Posted: 9:21 am on April 1st

csvm writes: Congratulations Chris! From your friends at the Chicago School of Violin Making!!!!
Posted: 2:13 pm on March 31st

dzonkey writes: Congradulations - truly a work of art! How about a photo of the inside of the box?
Posted: 1:48 pm on March 30th

Boogieshop writes: Greg, for the finish, I built it up in layers keeping in mind what colors I would reveal when wearing the top cots off. So the first coat is a copal linseed oil varnish with various yellow/gold pigments added. After the box was in an ultraviolet light box for a couple of days, I built up the orange and red layers using an alcohol seedlac based varnish with alizarin pigments. Then I began taking varnish away with a combination of alcohol and rubbing with mineral oil/rottenstone on a cotton rag. At this stage of the antiquing, I'm imagining where I think the box will get the most wear based on how it might be held and where it might be over polished/cleaned through the years. The next step was to use rocks of various textures to roll over the varnish and scratch it where I thought it would see the most wear. Next I rubbed in oil paints to simulate dirt and muck that evaded cleaning over the years. And hopefully in the end I have produced a convincing antiqued appearance.

Chris
Posted: 11:57 am on March 29th

tatsuhiko_oga writes:
Congratulations! Beautiful box!
Posted: 4:48 pm on March 27th

gmoney writes: Just gorgeous! I so glad to see you answering questions about the box. The aging and color are stupendous and I would be very grateful to know how you produced that finish? Also, is it correct to assume that it was sitka spruce? Thank for the great box entry. It's very inspiring to me.

Greg
Posted: 11:46 am on March 27th

Boogieshop writes: Thanks for all the nice comments. I really enjoyed working on this project.

WHAMMO, I made the top by 1. Resawing the overall curve and thicknessing the top to around 5mm. 2. Next I used the bandsaw to rough the outline. 3. Then I cleaned up the outline with a knife and fingerplane. 4. I then used a channel gouge to put a 1mm deep channel around the edge and used a scraper to clean this channel up and blend it up to the very edge. 5. Next I used a purfling marker to mark the inlay for the purfling. 6. I then cut the channel with a knife and picked out the inlay channel with a purfling picker and glued in the inlay. 7. I then rounded over the edges with a file and scraper.

You can find some great photos and explanations of making violin edges and corners on Michael Darnton's website.

http://www.darntonviolins.com/viola2.php

I hope that's a decent explanation.
Posted: 10:23 am on March 27th

Ace_HoleInOne writes: Congratulations Boogie!

Excellent work.

-Ace-
Posted: 9:12 pm on March 26th

WHAMMO writes: Congrats on your win! Well deserved! Would you be willing to share how you made the top - kinda step-by-step so a real rook could try something similar. Thanks,

Wallace
Posted: 4:20 pm on March 26th

Boogieshop writes: This is actually my box, but it got submitted under my wife's account by accident. So it looks like she is commenting on her own work, which wouldn't be like her at all, I assure you.
Posted: 7:29 pm on March 25th

MuesliMama writes: Beautiful! A box like no other.
Posted: 3:15 pm on March 25th

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