Boxes and Booze 8/4/17 Boxes and Booze 8/4/17

Louvre

Brain Young, that is, aka Mr. Puzzle, the brilliant, baffling and inimitable puzzle producer from Queensland.

Boxes and Booze 7/29/17 Boxes and Booze 7/29/17

Diamond Box

It’s always a treat to discuss one of Kagen Sound’s fine boxes. He has made a reputation for himself as one of the world’s foremost puzzle box makers. The description doesn’t quite do justice to his work.

Boxes and Booze 7/22/17 Boxes and Booze 7/22/17

Ink Blot

I’ve been meaning to feature this little box for a while, as a way to say thanks. The box in turn was a thank you gift from the maker, Tracy Clemons, who sent it as a companion piece to the original “Writer’s Block”.

Boxes and Booze 7/15/17 Boxes and Booze 7/15/17

Sequence Logic

Back from the Victorian Age where he got lost in a good book, returns American craftsman Jesse Born to his workshop in upstate New York.

Boxes and Booze 7/8/17 Boxes and Booze 7/8/17

Penny Arcade

Who doesn't have fond memories of strolling along the boardwalk as a child? If you were deprived of that wonderful experience, I can tell you it was a place full of magic, excitement, sweet delicacies and adventure. If not, then you know what I mean.

Boxes and Booze 7/2/17 Boxes and Booze 7/2/17

Small Button Box

The Small Button Box is a truly amazing little marvel. It’s difficult to fathom the level of precise complexity that is packed inside this tiny puzzle.

Boxes and Booze 6/24/17 Boxes and Booze 6/24/17

Tin Woodman

We’re off to see the wizard this week as we get slightly sentimental. Created as part of the Karakuri Creation Group’s “Story” exhibition, the Tin Woodman from Japanese artist Yoh Kakuda might just melt your heart.

Boxes and Booze 6/17/17 Boxes and Booze 6/17/17

Sheep?

he fluffy and fun “Sheep?” by Karakuri Creation Group artist Kanae Saito is notable for being one of the very few puzzle boxes she has created with the group and for its, well, fluffiness.

Boxes and Booze 6/10/17 Boxes and Booze 6/10/17

Carousel Box

From the creative mind of Canadian puzzle box maker Kelly Snache comes the Carousel Box. Kel produced this as an homage to another fine box full of gears, the Stickman No. 3 Puzzle Box by his friend Robert Yarger.

Boxes and Booze 6/3/17 Boxes and Booze 6/3/17

Try-Knot

I’ve got myself all tied up this week. I’ll try knot to make things worse as I untangle the situation, but you’ve been forewarned. The Try-Knot Box (Puzzlebox No. 17) from Robert Yarger is another wonderful creation by the mechanical maestro.

Boxes and Booze 5/27/17 Boxes and Booze 5/27/17

Acorn Box

A toast this week to my alma mater and the class of 1992 who are gathering back on campus for our twenty-fifth year reunion. Haverford College is a special place set in the beatific landscape of the Philadelphia suburbs on a unique arboretum campus.

Boxes and Booze 5/20/17 Boxes and Booze 5/20/17

Whisky Bottle

Happy World Whisky Day! This holiday really takes me back. All the way to Babylon and Mesopotamia in 2000 BC! Evidence of fermented, distilled grain (whisky!) exists from archaeological sites in the middle east dating all the way back to those ancient times.

Boxes and Booze 5/13/17 Boxes and Booze 5/13/17

Travel Pillow

Boxes and Booze is on the road, traveling a bit over the next few weeks. It seems like a good time to bring out my travel pillow. This one is from Kyoko Hoshino, one of the very few women crafting puzzle boxes today.

Boxes and Booze 5/6/17 Boxes and Booze 5/6/17

Shrinking Box

The idea of a box which needs to literally shrink in order to open is simply fascinating to me, and apparently to Hiroshi Iwahara, who designed it, and Tatsuo Miyamoto, who crafted it, as well.

Boxes and Booze 4/29/17 Boxes and Booze 4/29/17

Pinko Ringo / Ze Orange

This time the fruits of his labor have yielded an orange, complete with a silver stem. It’s a lovely piece of art and would be perfectly satisfying as an exceptionally skillful bit of wood turning, complete with textured skin.

Boxes and Booze 4/22/17 Boxes and Booze 4/22/17

Pyramid

Here at Boxes and Booze we seldom get boxed in, and certainly not into a corner. Take a standard cube, for example, with its six faces, eight vertices and twelve edges.

Boxes and Booze 4/15/17 Boxes and Booze 4/15/17

Gordian Knot

The legend of the Gordian Knot dates back to ancient Macedonia, when a prophecy telling of a man driving an oxcart into the capital city of Phrygia came true and Gordia became king.

Boxes and Booze 4/8/17 Boxes and Booze 4/8/17

POH

It’s sakura (cherry blossom) season and the lovely pink blossoms are resplendent across Japan and in Washington DC here in the US. The blossoms call to mind the beauty and magic in the world, as does this charming puzzle box from Yoh Kakuda of the Karakuri Creation Group.

Boxes and Booze 4/1/17 Boxes and Booze 4/1/17

Roll Box

At first glance, it appears to be a handsomely made chest with a wooden-hinged lid, locked shut at the front. There is a prominent bar on the front decorated in a contrasting, directional wood pattern which seems to be telling you something. Indeed this is a sliding bar with a little keyhole.

Boxes and Booze 3/25/17 Boxes and Booze 3/25/17

Two-Dimensional Secret Box

One of the Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artists who has delighted in pushing the boundaries of what is possible is Hiroshi Iwahara.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles