Teamwork Boxes (with Bob the carver)

I convinced the local gallery that we could have a successful opening and show by combining my talents with 7 of my fellow artisans. It succeeded, and we sold all 35 boxes and some additional individual work. The concept was that each of the seven artists would bring 3 or 4 pieces of their own work and that I would make 2 or 3 boxes with each of them. Pictured are some of the boxes I made with Bob the carver.

Bob is a talented carver and likes to paint his carvings. Being an environmental biologist he is very exacting in his detail and accuracy. He likes to carve in sassafras. So I made up a couple of tops sized for jewelry keepers and tea boxes and asked Bob to carve anything he wanted to carve. The top is one solid piece and the golden trout, duck looking down in the water, and wild violet are actually carved into the wood, not glued on.

By the way, I think part of the reason this teamwork approach succeeded was that I made it a point not to tell anyone I teamed up with what to do for their part. We talked over sizes and I usually furnished the wood for their part, but they made a top that suited them while I worked at making a box to go with it that would compliment their creations. I also made it a point to let everyone price their part of the work, and we just combined the price of my part with their part to reach a selling point.

The only technical challenge for me on these boxes was finding a way to put Bob’s work in the press to glue it directly to the base of the box. I didn’t want the press to ruin his carvings. The solution was to use a framework around the carving.

We had a very nice crowd for the opening and have sold all the boxes. You might want to try combining talents with someone else as a way of giving your work more variety…and it is fun.

As always, thanks for looking and commenting.

-- Big Al in IN