Below are new boxes to debut at Artscape art fair in Dallas April 25-27. First, a new Little Red Riding Hood box- walnut sides, woodburned and painted maple top and base. The top shows Little Red walking into the dark forest; the inside shows a snarling red-eyed wolf. Also, a new handcarved, slightly heart-shaped walnut box with turquoise inlay and a snaky design in relief.

 And coming soon- new carved tops waiting for Tom to get off his butt and make boxes for them. He seems to think that a major bleeding finger injury is an excuse not to use that hand. First, a spalted maple wavy top: it looks like stone.Next to it, a curly myrtle top carved in one big curling wave, with natural purplish stripes in the wood. Gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

And we proudly announce that we are the proud landlords of a new family: 4 baby cardinals in a sturdy nest in the bamboo outside our studio. Behold our babies! They're ugly, but we love them.

I've been thinking a great deal recently about the curious girls of mythology: Eve and Pandora. Here's a recent box effort: a Pandora's Box, with all the evils that plague humanity growing out of a hole in the top. Inside, of course, is what was left when Pandora shut the box: Hope, woodburned and goldleafed. The box is maple, woodburned (woodburning all those letters and leaves by hand took about 10 hours!) and painted, and the whole thing lacquered. It still needs some finish work, but it's fantastic.

Here is a new Eve woodburning for a box top- Eve holding the apple and spellbound by the snake. It's modified from a lovely painting by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer. Below, a new glass-topped box: an etched glass jellyfish painted and covered with colored epoxy. The sides are bubinga wood, and the base is silverleafed with sterling silver to reflect light behind the glass top. Also below, a pecan box with a woodburning on top modified from a Rossetti drawing- but I added a dog. These boxes will be for sale at Art City Austin this weekend, so come out to see them- and us!

Here is our newest box- probably my favorite in a long while, which is good, because it battled Tom the whole time he was trying to put it together. He is now my Yoshimi- he didn't let those evil monkeys win. The 4 sides and the top are glass etched with monkeys on branches. The sides are connected with dark wenge wood and legs, and the inside base is goldleafed in 22K gold, which makes it glow from the inside. It's hinged. I was inspired by the gorgeous cast glass and brass monkey boxes of Georgia and Joseph Pozycinski (I would DIE to own one of these, but I'll remind everybody that our boxes are much less expensive). These made me want to make an awesome monkey box, too, and so we did. And the Pozycinskis have also inspired me to travel to Oregon in May to take a week-long glass-casting class from the master: Linda Ethier. Hopefully, cast glass boxes will be coming soon!

 We will be showing this spring in April at Art City Austin on April 12-13, and Artscape in the Dallas Arboretum on April 26-27. Come out to eiher of these fine art shows at fabulous locations- downtown Austin or the gardens of he Dallas Arboretum- and see us!
Here is our new koi box, made of leopardwood, with an etched, goldleafed, and painted top and a lacquered base- it's so shiny that the koi are reflected in it. It's hinged.

Another new box: walnut root burl top on a mesquite box with wenge trim and ceramic skull details. Also, we're working on a 5-sided glass box featuring monkeys. Here are some of the pieces- it will be glass on all four sides and the top, etched with monkeys on branches. The wood connecting pieces will be of black wenge, and the inside base will be goldleafed.

And here is one of the side pieces for another mostly glass box: an art nouveau inspired fish and water lilies. The top will be etched lilypads.

We're proud to announce that some of our boxes will be on display in the Austin ABIA airport starting in February; our airport is very good about supporting local artists, and we're thrilled to have been selected for exhibition.

Also, here is a really pretty new box: the top is maple, with woodburned ravens and a 22K goldleafed skull. I surrounded them with brass coils, and set the whole top in deep epoxy. The top and base are rimmed in dark wenge, and the sides are ziricote with maple biscuit joints. It has a brass lock and ornate brass key, and the inside bottom is lined with red suede. It's our first locking box, and we love it. The ziricote is as smooth as glass. Below is a picture of the inside.
Also below are new box tops and bases. First, the pieces for our new glass-topped box: birds etched in a circle over a base painted like a sunset, with a 22K goldleafed sun. The epoxy paint is so glossy that the birds are reflected in it. This will have curly maple sides and top frame.

The first weekend of the East Austin Studio Tour is this weekend (11/16-17). Come by our studio to meet us and see how we make our boxes. All the boxes on these pages- plus new ones like the one in this picture (handcarved and turquoise inlaid walnut)- will be available for sale. This event is a great opportunity to do holiday shopping while directly supporting local artists and the east Austin art community. EAST catalogs are available at Austin public libraries until they run out, and there are hundreds of wonderful artists in all media listed.

We have some unique pieces of wood in stock right now as well, so if you want a custom box made, now is a good time to come look at available wood and talk with us about it. I also etch glass and have several lovely pieces of etched glass that have not yet been made into box lids; this is an excellent time to come learn about sandblasting glass, or to have a piece of etched glass made.

See you at our studio this weekend!

This box, made about 6 months ago of purpleheart, wenge, holly, spalted live edge maple root burl, and etched glass, will be part of the East Austin Studio Tour gallery show starting this Saturday, Nov 2. Buy it there and 25% of the proceeds go to support EAST!

We can't attend the gallery show opening because we'll be at the Houston Fine Art Festival Nov 2 and 3. It looks like it will be beautiful weather for an art fair, so come out  to this beautiful downtown park and do your holiday shopping.

And prepare for the 2 weekends of the EAST experience, starting Saturday, Nov 16. We'll be at our studio and ready to meet with all the great artists and art enthusiasts who come out.

I've been woodburning more bones recently- trying to get my skeletons right. This is a series of skeletons that may have finally exhausted my need to woodburn bones. They're all on maple, woodburned and most with some epoxy paint. Eventually we'll get around to making these into boxes:

We are pleased to announce that we won Best of Show at the Art in the Park art fair in Dallas yesterday. It was a really nice fair (although cold and a little rainy) and we really appreciate all the people who bought boxes and talked with us about woodworking.

Next show:  October 18-20 in San Antonio, the La Cantera Art fair. See you there!

Hinged pecan box with turquoise inlay above. Below, new painted and woodburned box tops in an anatomical vein. I've been into veins, bones, and organs recently. Plus, some more practice with faces.
We were accepted into the Art in the Park show in Dallas on Oct. 5! It's in the park directly across from the Dallas Museum of Art, and only 50 artists were selected to participate. We're thrilled.