Doug Stowe - Simply Beautiful Boxes

W oodworking is a process of story telling. A single piece of wood can tell what type of tree it came from and where, what the soil and climate were like where it grew in short, the story of its life. A woodworker takes the wood and adds his or her own story, expressing a level of understanding of material and tools, recording in the wood as if in a journal, the evolution of personal values and the narrative of his or her growth as a craftsman.

Woodworking is a way of telling who and what we are as human beings in a language that speaks more clearly and with greater patience and sincerity than words alone.

Jewelry boxes are personal. Often when I'm set up at a show to sell my work, people will look at the jewelry boxes I've made and say, Your wife must have a beautiful jewelry box. Well, no, I respond, she's waiting for just the right one. The awful truth is that my wife, Jean, stores her jewelry in a plastic organizer she bought at Wal-Mart. I had given her a jewelry chest years ago, but when a gallery called asking about it, Jean said, Sell mine. We needed the money, so the fiddleback maple jewelry chest with walnut pulls was sold and has yet to be replaced. I keep trying.

Jewelry boxes are expressions of relationship. A story told of love, of commitment, of sharing, of understanding, of listening, of knowing. We are each unique in our needs and in what we express. While one woman (or man) may wear earrings, another rings, another necklaces, another pins, or some mix of all, it is a challenge to design jewelry boxes that meet the unique needs of an individual without getting personal.

It is also a challenge to offer designs suited to the unique abilities of various craftsmen. Jewelry boxes can be very simple or as complicated as any large piece of furniture.

Some can be done with a limited selection of tools, while others require elaborate operations with complicated setups and a high degree of precision. You may want to make something you find here. Feel free to make changes and personalize these designs.