Doll Cases

These are some doll cases I made for a local client. They were gifts for her family. She handmade all of the clothes and worked with a local woman who is a traditional doll maker to pose and style the doll's hair. This first case - a gift for my client's daughter - is a geisha and her hand maiden.

The first case is Basswood, Cherry and Maple. I used traditional mortise and tenon joinery with pinned and wedged tenons.

The photos do not give a good representation of how amazing the details on these dolls are.

Each of the cases had a small stand. The doll below is mounted on a piece of Western Big leaf Maple Burl. 

Pinned tenon with ebony wedges as ornament and strength. 

This was one of the final cases. Cherry and Maple with a Quilted Maple back that I book matched.  

I tried to imply some small details of the surroundings of each doll with the burls and back panels, giving the illusion of rocky shoreline, trees and mountains. 

I am very honored to have been chosen to make these family heirlooms.  

 

Anatomy of a Board continued..

This piece is a Getabako, or shoebox, for a client's entry. I made it with the board I described in my previous post. To give a floating appearance, I designed the piece to hang on the wall. I finished the Getabako by hand rubbing a tung oil and wax finish.


The lighter wood in the shelves is Western cedar. I used this aromatic wood to make inserts so the moisture from our damp Seattle footwear won't damage the wood.


Above is a custom pull I made from a small piece of the same board and inlaid into a mortised drawer front. I love small details like this on furniture. They truly show the maker's hand.

The drawers are made from a piece of figured western big leaf maple felled in Lynnwood, WA and locally milled and air dried by AJ's Custom Sawing. This figure is called fiddleback, or sometimes curly or tiger. Like the name implies, it came from the beautiful figured woods used on musical instruments.