Finishing of a Tea Box

Since Russians drink lots of tea and to keep with my family’s tradition I needed a small box for tea bags that were getting out of control on the dining table.

I was planning on making one (it would probably take me a while since I never made anything like that) but one Friday afternoon I stopped at a local craft store and saw an unfinished wooden box for $4.99 (+tax). I picked it up thinking it would serve as a prototype. At those prices I just cannot compete with Chinese folks, sorry…

Since I saved time on making it, I invested some of the saved time in finishing. I used TransTint dyes dissolved in denatured alcohol and very small white cotton rag cutoffs.

For the top, I first put down Lemon Yellow dye, then using Red dye I carefully worked from the outside edges to create a fade effect. Alcohol’s short drying time made it easy to control the fade even for me doing it first time. Airbrush would probably yield better effect but I don’t own one nor know anyone who does.

The sides were done with black TransTint dye as well.

The top coat is just Minwax Wipe-On Poly in gloss finish. Inside I just put on one coat of it to seal the wood pores. On outside, I put 3 coats on using the same white cotton rag leftovers with 0000 steel wool light sanding between coats. I opted out of using any kind of wax since this box will be on the dining table all the time.

I did not make the inner dividers that are needed to separate different kinds of tea bags since my finishing caused the “scope creep” of this project. I also wanted to show it off to the family members that were going to visit for Easter Sunday.

Since I completed this one, I got 4 more of these unfinished boxes to try different color/finish combinations and they should make a good Christmas gifts for family.