Other Tissue Boxes

Well, the tissue box was really a hit with my family. Other people wanted one, or I flattered myself and imagined they wanted one so I took it upon myself to make more. It has sort of become a love/hate thing with me now. I enjoy making things for people, especially for those whom I love. But I hate mass producing things and feeling like I just need to pop one more out. I could spend less time on one and do a mediocre job, but then I couldn't live with myself knowing somebody out there had it and knew I made it. Somebody at school saw one that I made for one of my teachers. They raved about it and said they'd really love one and to name a price, then offered $300. I was really flattered, but considering the time and effort I put into these, $300 is not enough. They are really a labor of love. Strange I still haven't made one for ourselves.

The second box I made was for my mother-in-law. It was a maple face stained with walnut or something and the box was poplar. The droop of the eyebrows gives somewhat a sad or sleepy look. A face I'd probably have sitting in my office all day. I can picture it saying, "Wake up Dum Dum!"

With the same plank of wood I made the previous box I made this one as well. The face is again maple, with a very nice scar, and the box is black walnut. We didn't stain this one (obviously). This was for my dear sister Debbie, whom I must say is very convenient to have as a sister.

Next I thought I'd go back to black walnut for the boxes. I don't know what the heck I was thinking trying to carve this stuff out of maple. It's really a rock hard wood and I probably spent way too much time trying to make it look good. The next batch all came out of a couple of chunks of walnut I bought in Salt Lake City while home for the summer. I made this box for a doctor (dentist) at school whom I admire a lot. I tried to make them look less sleepy and more angry and I think it worked out pretty good. Here's a comparison picture with some of the old ones. From left: Debbie's, Dr. Hagner's, and my mom's.

This is a picture of the finished box for Dr. Hagner, pretty much identical to the next one.

This is a nice angry shot of one I made for my friend Greg Godfrey.

I thought I'd include some pictures of the process. Here's a picture of the box before I made the face. This really deserves a post of it's own. With my dad's guidance I ran the raw lumber we bought through a planer to make it the right thickness, then used a jointer to make the edges all square. Then we were able to cut out the individual pieces and realize I didn't have quite enough. Luckily enough my dad had a spare plank lying around his shop. Then we prepared it all for the router dovetail jig. This is a little difficult to set up, but makes the overall process turn out really nice. With the dovetails cut we glue them together and they make a very strong box.

When I have the general shape of the face outlined on a board, I learned after the first box to just use a router in my hands and bulk cut the majority of the wood. It's not all tree-hugging-natural-only-hand-tools but who cares! The end result turns out the same and I save some time. Here's several different levels pre-cut to make my life easier.

All of that was done in my dad's shop in Laketown, UT on my summer vacay. Next I brought the chunks home to finish everything. Here I have it clamped onto my carving table and start to cut out the majority of the features with my chisels. FYI this carving table was in my bedroom and it kind of makes a mess on the carpet. I look forward to the day I get a shop of my own.

Yeah, I kind of have to cut out the back side too. It has to be really smooth so the tissues don't snag on anything.

The carving phase is by far my favorite. Next is a pain. I go through with a series of files to smooth everything over and eliminate all the chisel marks. Some woodcarvers view this as the incorrect way of doing it. They say the masterful way of presenting a carving is with nice even chisel markings all over it with no trace of filing or sanding. They can go soak their heads in a toilet, this looks nice too. Someday maybe when I'm a 'master' woodcarver I can be all snooty and tell people they are doing it wrong.

Smooth the backside and add my initials. I used to always carve them in but now I have some punches that look kind of military. It's better than the letters that look like they were carved by a grade school kid learning to write.

Now I glue the face on and clamp it all down good.

Next I finish carving the "background" behind the face to make it all rounded off. I left it flat from the router so I'd have a surface to use for clamping (learned from experience).

Next I file the seam between the box and the face to make it flush. Then I go through with a series of sandpaper and remove all the file marks. This is the most tedious part.

Finally I cover it with some satin varnish and presto! A finished tissue box that will hopefully be appreciated for it's workmanship, material, utility and humor.