My wife wants me to make niece a smallish jewelry box. Says the inside needs to be flattish. Hard to get a pleasing outside shape that way. I would like to put on small pedestal. Needs a lid. Thinking 5 to 6” diameter . Any ideas? Pics would be great! Thanks
I've made a number, sorry no photos. The biggest question for me - how much and what kind of jewelry will go in this box? Shallow, wide, and flat on the inside bottom is important to find things. Rings, brooches, pendants without chains, etc are good in such boxes. Both ear rings of a pair may be difficult to find both with too much in the box. Necklaces with fine chains in a jewelry box can be a nightmare - over the years I've spent a lot of time untangling fine chains.
A shallow box with flat bottom does limit the design somewhat. A decorative lid can add a lot to the look as can feet (carved or attached) to lift it a bit from the surface. Unlike a typical bowl/hollow form, there is no reason the outside shape needs to echo the inside (unless the wood is not dry - need some dry wood?) Regardless of the shape outside, straight or slightly inwardly tapered inside walls canmake it easier to find and access things compared to a container wider at at the inside bottom.
I think something VERY important is to NOT make a box with a "woodturners" suction fit. In my humble opinion this type of lid fit has ONLY one use - to impress other woodturners. Ask people who actually use boxes for jewelry, in the kitchen, etc, - they want a lid they can lift with one hand without holding the box body in the other hand! (The exception is a tiny box made as a needle case or pill box that may be carried in a bag or pocket so it won't open accidentally.)
What I sometimes do when designing something for someone else is make sketches of a bunch of options. These are usually side views, not all necessarily to scale, some with the front of one side cut away to show the shape of the inside. I may make a few or a bunch of quick sketches and let the person look and comment, returning to the drawing board if needed! Then maybe make a quick prototype for approval! (This method may not appeal to those who like to let the wood "speak to them" while designing at the lathe.
About wood, one thing I like to keep in mind: if the shape and form is interesting or detailed, the wood can be plain. If the form is simple it might be time to get out that treasured piece of cocobolo, burl, birdseye, or fiddleback maple!
The big question I'd ask: how much jewelry does she want in this box at one time? Is it a place to temporarily put a few things after use that day or the day before? Or a place to store jewelry for a longer term?
My Lovely Bride has a LOT of jewelry acquired over the last 1/2 century during various trips, commissioned by some artists, and some made by me in my lost-wax sliver casting days of over 50 years ago. She has struggled with the problem of storing these so she can find exactly what she wants quickly. A turned box on the dresser would be useless to her for storage since she couldn't find anything. (Failing vision makes it worse!)
We have several beautiful jewelry boxes made of flatwood with lids and drawers but she doesn't use them much.
What she finally settled on is keeping everything but necklaces in the large top drawer of the dresser. She has a stack of what look like plastic ice cube trays, each spot containing just one pair of earrings.
She has a number of small flat boxes each with things like pearl necklaces that don't have fine chains that might tangle easily, and accompanying ear rings or other accessories. Each small flat box is labeled on top so no hunting is needed.
For necklaces with fine chains that can get tangled, she hung a tall necklace organizer on a hook on the back of a door, wide wire hooks with two rows of 16 spaces for chains, soft black velour background so all are easy to see.
Rings go in a special box with shallow angled slots to make finding the right one easy. Rings used often go on turned ring keepers for quick access (a popular item for other family and friends as well, and quick to make!) Can put 4-5 rings on one keeper.
(Things rarely worn but with some sentimental or monetary value go in the safe!)
Sorry, I have no good specific suggestions for your jewelry box question except to make the lid loose enough to lift with one hand (a tapered-fit lid is perfect for this - it can't possibly stick.)
Knowing more about the needs/desires may get more useful suggestions!
JKJ
This is a piece that I made for use as a blank for a lid. The segmented lid will be stable and will not have misalignment of the segments in the middle. The 4 segment layers should be an odd number of 3,or 5 and about 1/8" thick. The method I use so far has proven to be stable through the annual weather cycle, If this idea is of interest to you I could provide more detail for creating the layers.
