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September 2025 Challenge: Cindy Drozda Finial Box

Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson

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Hi everyone,

This month's challenge is a sort of sequel to the February 2025 Box Challenge. In this case, I want you to focus on making one type of box: Cindy Drozda's style of finial box. It is characterized by a rotund body and a tall elegant finial. Her signature box usually incorporates two types of wood (the foot and an inset collar are one type of wood, and the body and finial/pull are a different type). It is also fairly small, but doesn't have to be. More important than the size is getting the proportions right. I'm not going to require specific measurements, but you should strive to make something as close to her design as possible. Likewise, you are welcome to use only one type of wood for the box and forgo the insert and separate foot; however, I challenge you to go with her design. The piece is small enough so that you should be able to utilize small scraps. Here are a few examples for your inspiration (all made by Cindy, but I believe photo credit goes to @Tib G Shaw for the 3rd version with the CD for scale):

CD1.jpg
CD2.jpg
CD3.jpg

Attached to this announcement is a helpful link to a finial box handout (including instructions and a scale drawing) that I found on Cindy's website. As with all challenges, the most important thing is to have FUN and do your best work. Everyone that participates wins; the forum itself wins! Here are the challenge rules, as determined by AAW Forum legal counsel Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe:

  • Entries must be posted in this thread by 12 AM Coordinated Universal Time on Monday, September 29, 2025.
  • Feel free to post a two photos of your piece in this thread, one with the box close, and one with it open. Please don't crop your images tightly (meaning, leave a bit of room in the image so I can add your name later).
  • Your turning can be any size, can be made of a single species of wood or multiple. Feel free to dye/color/pyro as desired, but this time no carving allowed. ;). Include the dimensions in your entry post.
  • As always, this is a turning contest, not a "moldy oldie" photo contest, so in fairness to everybody, make sure your work is something you have made since this challenge was issued on September 9, 2025.
  • You may not post any photos of your entry in this month’s challenge in any other thread or in the gallery until the voting has ended and a winner has been declared.
  • Voting will take place from September 30, 2025, through 11:59 pm EST on October 2, 2025.
  • Solicitation of votes will result in disqualification.
  • The winner might have to pass a lie detector test before collecting the grand prize: this month it is a vintage glass medicine bottle I found in a nearby Tennessee stream. Good luck, have fun, make shavings, and let the chips fall where they may!!
 

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I’ll kick it off. I just finished this little box of spalted beech and walnut. Overall size is 7 3/4” tall by 3 1/2” at the widest. The box is 2 3/4” tall and the finial is 5”. The little walnut base is 1 5/8” diameter by 1/4” tall. This is the second finial I turned. The first is in pieces on the shop floor. The finish is Mahoney’s walnut oil and wax then Beall buffed.
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Here is my entry. I decided to make it close to the dimensions in Cindy's handout. This is 4 1/4” x 2” with the box and top being made from African Blackwood, the accent ring and base are Redheart. It is finished with Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish. The inside of the top is decorated with a cabochon inset in it.


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James Seyfried said:
Here is my entry. I decided to make it close to the dimensions in Cindy's handout. This is 4 1/4” x 2” with the box and top being made from African Blackwood, the accent ring and base are Redheart. It is finished with Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish. The inside of the top is decorated with a cabochon inset in it.

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That color combo is awesome.
 
Thanks for the challenge. Don't know that I've ever been a participator but this one caught my eye. I have a few large Ivory Palm nuts that are lovely to turn so I opted to use one and part of another to make the vessel. Some smalls of Pink Ivory provided the details, the pedestal and the finial. 5-1/4" x 2-1/4". Pro Luxe (Deft) gloss lacquer for the finish.
Possibly running afoul of the challenge parameters with this but I wanted to use Cindy's perfect shapes and proportions as inspiration more than attempting duplication.
Thank you for looking!IMG_4601.jpegIMG_4602.jpeg
 
Four-ish more days to submit your entries. Thank you everyone that has participated so far—this will be a difficult vote!
 
Here is my contribution to the challenge.
The box is Maple Box Elder, with red stripes native to the wood. Dimensions are 4" diameter, 3" high.
The finial is plain maple, colored red with spirit stain, 4" high. The bottom of the finial has a small burned flower design, with Swarovski style crystal in the center of the flower.

Take care and stay safe.
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Attached please find pictures of my interpretation of Cindy Drozda's Finial Box. I did my best to hold to her lines and proportions, but doubled the size to make it more functional as well as being decorative. The size of my box is 6.5" high and 3.5" wide. It's primarily made of cherry, with padauk accents. I like how padauk and cherry work together and compliment each other. Her inset ring really adds to the box, and I decided with the foot and ring of padauk that the very top of the finial also needed to be padauk. Finished with DO, buffed and waxed.

Cindy Drozda Finial Box.jpg

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Here's my entry. the box and finial are cherry and the base and trim ring are ebony. Total height is 6.5", the box is 2 1/8 and the finial is 4 3/4 tall including the shoulder. Sanded to 800 grit, final sanded with EEE and polished with Shellawax. Photo taken outside in natural light and not nearly as good as the other photos submitted. Thanks for looking.


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Finally got around to getting a challenge done in time. The box was made from a burlish growth off a maple log that had some spalting. I added a paduk accent ring and the finial was made from a piece of maple. The box is 3.25 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall. The finial is 3.75 inches tall. The narrowest part of the finial is a little thicker then a tooth pick.finial box 1.JPGfinial box 2.JPG
 
Maybe it is just me, but most of these finials look too big and clunky. I almost never make "critiques".

robo hippy
 
Just made it in time. African Blackwood and tagua nut with a smidge of turquoise mica powder to fill in a small crack. 2 3/4" by 1 3/8". Sanded to 800 grit, no finish.

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Here's my attempt with an ash blank and some mystery accent wood that was in a grab bag from a club member. The dimensions are close to the brief with the total height at 3 3/4" high, 1 7/8" diameter, and the box is 1 1/8" high. This was a great challenge, and a challenging wood to choose.

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Mind the pink background. I was photographing a bonnet stand and was too lazy to swap backgrounds. 😂
 
Incredible submissions. I will put together the voting poll tonight FYI, just in case there are any last-minute participants.
 
For those of you who used the accent wood, did you glue the foot stock to the blank and turn it as one piece, or did you glue the foot on afterwards?
 
Kent Reisdorph said:
For those of you who used the accent wood, did you glue the foot stock to the blank and turn it as one piece, or did you glue the foot on afterwards?
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I made the foot separately and glued to the turned box. I turned the ring inset after roughing the box stock round and then inserted it before finish turning.
 
Kent Reisdorph said:
For those of you who used the accent wood, did you glue the foot stock to the blank and turn it as one piece, or did you glue the foot on afterwards?
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The instructions are pretty detailed in Cindy's handout. The foot blank is part of the accent ring blank, and you turn recess into the foot blank before you part it out of the box opening. I made a jam chuck and reversed the box to turn the little tenon and glue the foot blank onto the box, then turned it while it was on the jam chuck.
 
Walker Westbrook said:
The instructions are pretty detailed in Cindy's handout. The foot blank is part of the accent ring blank, and you turn recess into the foot blank before you part it out of the box opening. I made a jam chuck and reversed the box to turn the little tenon and glue the foot blank onto the box, then turned it while it was on the jam chuck.
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Doh! I forgot to RTFM.
 
Some of the steps in the instructions were a little confusing to me and I had to reread a bunch of times. I will attribute that to getting older.

I had to do the foot twice since the cracks in the tagua nut made the first one unusable.
 
Rick Moreton said:
Some of the steps in the instructions were a little confusing to me and I had to reread a bunch of times. I will attribute that to getting older.

I had to do the foot twice since the cracks in the tagua nut made the first one unusable.
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I say "the instructions". There are step by step diagrams in the writeup on the handouts section of her website. They're a little more detailed than the handout in the challenge brief.
 
Things got busy for me, and I've never really done any finials...

Glad I didn't try, these all look amazing! (tough choice to vote for just one)
 
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