Beachwalker Boxes Blog - Beachwalker Boxes: Unique Handmade Wood and Glass Boxes located in Austin, Texas

Dogs! Cats! Parrots!

9/24/2015

We love pets, and we realized recently that we have not been giving adequate attention in our work to the animals most of us live with. We live with dogs and birds, and we know many of you people who are owned by cats, so we've been focusing these animals recently. To left, a rosewood box with two cast glass preening parrots on a wood and copper perch. Each parrot is individually sculpted. Below, two dog-on-rug boxes (our dogs love to sleep on rugs). First, a white cast glass dog on a needlepointed rug (yes, I needlepointed that rug- without a pattern painted on it, thank you). And a small black glass dog sleeping on a handmade rag rug (and yes, I made the rag rug, too).

And for you cat people, two new cat and fish boxes: an orange glass cat reaching a paw down to fish in an etched mirror aquarium on a walnut box, and woodburned cats on a maple box reaching up to catch 22K gold goldfish etched on many pieces of plate glass glued together and polished to a shine. All cast glass pieces were cast by us in our own kiln using the lost wax method, and the 2 glass aquariums were etched by hand by us using our own sandblaster.

Skulls and Bones

6/12/2015

A recent obsession with bones has yielded a few new works: above left is a walnut box top with resin skulls and real animal bones. This will get a white holly box. Each skull has a different springtime design: a bird on a nest of gold eggs, flowers with a small snake, and butterflies. Above right is a cast glass skull in a deep red, on top of a walnut box lined with red suede. Pretty, pretty skulls.
Less disturbing things coming soon: cats, dogs, parrots. Stay tuned.

New Spring Work: Figurative Glass and Wood Art, Octopus, Skeleton

5/31/2015

So here are some of our latest glass pieces, a series we call the "Kairos" figures. To us, they represent the Greek concept of Kairos: moments of time pregnant with meaning. They are kiln cast glass figures, often pregnant or with themes of birth and death and mythologically symbolic animals, and they are often contemplative, as with the mirror and the magnifying glass in the two finished pieces. Each figure sits on a wooden base that has a hidden drawer in it, representing the secret, internal nature of kairos moments (and because we're boxmakers, so we couldn't just have empty bases!) The sphinx-like figure is waiting for its base. We have quite a few figures in this series being prepped for their bases.

And a few finished boxes in our normal hodgepodge style: a cast glass octopus on a curly maple box and a woodburned and painted fossil skeleton with a resin skull on a walnut hinged box. These are both for sale!

Ocean Boxes:Shells, Mermaid, Cephalopods

3/24/2015

We're clearly dreaming of the ocean recently. Here are two new shell boxes: to left, a pate de verre (glass piece made with glass powder packed in a mold) shell on a curly maple legged box. The wavy grain of the wood suugests waves to us, and it's lined with leather in a beautiful oceany wavy pattern. Below, an aqua glass box in a wenge base with a natural opalized ammonite fossil as a lid lift- the box is sandblasted for a "sea glass" effect. And next to it, a woodburned and painted mermaid top on a walnut box lined with suede.

And more lovely water creatures: some new cast glass octopuses. All these and more will be for sale at our upcoming art fairs!

This Year's Erotic Box... Mature Content in this Post!

3/8/2015

We love making an erotic box to donate to the Octopus Club's Art Erotica event each year. We started thinking about this box immediately after we made last year's. So without further ado, please look below the "read more" break to see this year's box, which is graphic. If you're going to clutch your pearls and cluck over nasty bits, go somewhere else.

Flowers and Skulls in Glass- So Sweet.

2/16/2015

Here is a new cast glass box with a pink glass rose sitting in a bird's eye maple top on a sandblasted cast glass box that shifts color between green and soft blue, depending on the light. Leaves were woodburned and painted on the wood top. It has a maple base that allows light up underneath the box. This box is considerably less expensive than most of our cast glass boxes (very little coldworking needs to be done on a sandblasted box). Also below, a cast glass skull that changes color depending on the light, sitting on a bubinga wood box, lined with purple suede- the photo shows it surrounded by cast glass skulls in other colors. And below is another cast glass flower box in the works: sandblasted swirled blue, green, and purple glass. A purple glass lily sits in a maple top with leaves woodburned and painted, and it will also have a maple base. Pretty.

New Spring Work: Cat and Fish, Medusa, Little Red Riding Hood, Spring Art Fairs

2/1/2015

Our newest box is also our new favorite: a sandblasted cast glass cat fishing in a koi pond with a curious paw. The pond is mirror etched underneath with fish, which were then goldleafed and painted in the etch. The box is curly cherry. We love how the cat is reflected in the mirror, and how this box combines all of our passions: woodworking, glass casting, and glass etching.

Also new is our rosewood Medusa vase box, with a cast glass Medusa head on a gorgeous handcarved curvy rosewood box. The snakes on this are great- this piece, like the cat box, looks great from every angle. All glass pieces are cast using the lost wax technique- sculpted out of wax, molded in plaster, the wax melted out, and the molds filled with glass and fired in a kiln for days.

And last, our new "story" box, a Little Red Riding Hood with Little Red walking into a dark forest on the lid, and a snarling wolf inside. This is a woodburned and painted maple top and base on a red padauk wood box with beautiful joinery.

And our Spring line-up of art fairs is shaping up: March 27-29 in Houston at Bayou City Art Fair, April 3-5 in Dallas at Deep Ellum Art Festival, April 10-12 in the Woodlands (near Houston for The Woodlands Waterway Art Fair, April 18-19 in Wimberley for The Blue Hole Art Fair. There may be a few more (we're deciding if more will kill our souls), so stay tuned. And come out to see us at a fair this Spring!

Crystal Skull, Torso. Plus: Grievous Wound in Pursuit of Art

1/4/2015

Our first foray into casting lead crystal! Left is a lavender/purple cast crystal skull. Lead crystal is about 30% heavier than unleaded glass, so this baby (at about 3 by 2.5 inches) weighs nearly a kilogram, and sparkles like crazy in the light. I think it turned out lovely. Below is a cast crystal torso in green- and the clarity and sparkle of this green is to die for. I can't wait to make boxes for these pretties to sit on.
But, alas, I cut my hand pretty badly while de-molding the crystal, and ended up getting 3 stitches at the ER. But came back right afterwards and finished de-molding. And wouldn't you know it- it's my good hand that got fucked up.

Glass Women, Glass Faces

12/29/2014

Our gorgeous new box- kiln-cast glass helical female figures in 2 kinds of shift-tint glass, the picture to the right shows them in indoor light. The colors flicker back and forth depending on how much of each light touches them. They are fixed in black epoxy in a wenge frame on top of a curly walnut box carved with curves on the lid and bottom, with wenge legs.
Below is also our newest cast glass face in negative space. It's cast in clear glass with several colors of dichroic extract cast with the glass, giving it surprising shifting shimmer. And also below, our cast glass creepy faces box with handcarved walnut legs.
And finally, our glass mermaid box. It's a WOW. The whole box, inside and out, was covered in shiny black epoxy, so it looks as if she's rising out of black water, and her reflection in the black water is gorgeous. It's lined with blue suede. This took MANY days, because each of the 4 sides of the box (inside and out, had to be coated and left to dry for 24 hours, one side at a time. But it was worth it.

Glass Cat, Violets, Horse

12/20/2014

Our newest finished boxes! To right, a cast glass violets box in green and purple. Each petal (60 of them!) was made individually in wax, detailed with a toothpick, and carefully assembled on a wax box. It was cast in plaster, the wax was melted out (or "lost"- hence "lost wax"), glass was carefully added to melt correctly, and the whole thing was fired for 3 days. I sandblasted float glass with a butterfly for the top and colored it with iridescent dichroic extract and fused it. Pretty, pretty. Tom made this lovely simple wenge base for it- it looks a bit like flowers growing out of a flower box. This one was a real labor of love.

Below, an orange cast glass cat crouches next to a little vintage brass birdcage with a green-painted brass bird in it. They are attached to a curly walnut top, on a curly walnut box. And finally, a custom order- a sandblasted abstract glass horse on a box of holly and wenge with a woodburned initial "J." It has a red suede lining on the inside base.