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.

Here is our lovely cast glass tentacles box, all finished with a little ship of wood, paper, and string on the cast glass top, and a base of sapele on a ring of jarrah with live edge.The bottom of the box is faceted inward and highly polished to let lots of light into the box, which is cast of a shift tint glass that is green under inside light and a lavender blue outside. Wowza, if I do say so myself. And Tom constructed this weird-ass base that is so perfectly a work of art in itself.
Below, our cast glass hell box- the box has a flame design on the ruby red glass, and a wenge top and base. The top has a skeleton (made of bone, of course) on it (with a convenient small hole for, as seen here, a flower). And finally, since we don't always do monsters, our sweet cast glass golden girl, sitting on the lid of a tall, plain, polished sapele box.

But those of you with darker sensibilities will be pleased to know that snakes and sea monsters and beetles and skulls are all in the works to counteract the sweetness. For instance, below is an experiment in negative space casting: a skull in a light lavender gray glass (the lavender color will NOT show up in the pictures, which is frustrating Tom). The skull is the empty space. Creepy, eh? This will go on the bottom of a wooden box, on top of mirror to reflect light, with a split etched glass top so you can see the skull beneath. And also below, another negative space adventure with a face in rhubarb shift tint glass- this one will go on the top of a wooden box.
And get your ass out to the Art & Wine in the Square Festival in Georgetown, TX, next weekend (Sept 17-28) and get loaded and come see us. And buy something. You know you always wanted a hell box.

 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.

I'm in an very bird mood recently, and it's been cheering me to woodburn ravens- lots and lots of ravens. Beside and below are two new efforts: A goldleafed skull surrounded by ravens and brass coils, set in epoxy. And a goldleafed angel surrounded by ravens. I think these will probably become boxes- I love the goldleaf combined with the black woodburned ravens.

Also below, a new box in the works- rosewood with a back of maple with a woodburned and painted hummingbird on it to surprise you when you open it. It will be surrounded by an etched and carved glass surround of a rose and leaves on a long, winding stem. The picture is of the box being clamped together, along with the glass rose surround. It will be just beautiful- with a rosewood door on the front with a silver rose pull to open it.

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:

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.

A new box: padauk with etched glass top and woodburned and painted maple base. The top is from an X-ray of hands, and I got in a really sweet lovey mood for the base (not hard when you're watching Tom make boxes). It's both anatomical AND adorable. It's also hinged. In case you can't tell, the glass top is only clear over the red heart on the base.

And my new woodburned face: Sylvia Plath, surrounded by crows. This one turned our really nice, if sort of goth-ish and disturbing. I still love Plath, although as I get older, I think Ted Hughes was actually a far better poet. If you haven't read his great book of poetry Crow, get to it.