Fine Wood Jewelry Boxes Blog

For all the men out there who have holiday shopping to do for the women in their lives, here are a few ideas:

~Jewelry Sets; a piece of jewelry is nice when matched to a proper outfit, but with a jewelry set, instead you strive to match our outfit to your jewelry.  Many of these sets will even come with a decorative jewelry box to house and protect the pieces.

~Digital Camera; great for photographing and recording all those treasured family moments, just make sure you teach her how to use it!

~Orchids; these delightful flowers can survive indoors year rounds with proper lighting and care, plus they’re beautiful in all seasons.

~Gift Certificates; purchase a gift certificate from her favorite store and she’ll love you for it, but make sure to get her a little something else to reassure her that you still know what she likes!

With Christmas time coming up many are wondering what they will gifts they will get their loved ones. Handmade jewelry is a great gift idea that lets your mom, sister or cousin know you personalized a gift just for them. Homemade gifts like handmade earrings are also a great gift-giving option for those on a tight budget. It’s quite simple to make earrings, and a set of simple dangle earrings should only take you about 30 minutes to make. To get started you’ll need two headpins (or eye pins), two ear wires, beads of your choice and round-nosed pliers. These supplied can all be found at your local bead shop.

After you’ve got your equipment together, grab your headpin and slide you beads onto them using spacer beads to break up colored beads. Try experimenting with different colors until you find a combination you like. Use your pliers to bend to head pin 90 degrees. Finally, finish the loop by bending the end of the head pin over to complete the loop. When you’ve finished you can add a French wire or another earring finding. If you want to make the present extra special, give it in a unique jewelry box.

For many people, jewelry can seem like an expensive purchase. High quality materials such as gold and diamonds can certainly break the bank, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more manageable options. For one, always make sure to scour the internet for fantastic deals. Just make sure you shop through reputable sites, because questionable quality can be an issue with some websites.

If you’re still looking for ways to pinch some pennies, consider purchasing some jewelry sets. At first glance, these might not seem like a more economical option, but you might actually be surprised. Even if the price tag is more at first glance, these sets can always be broken up into different jewelry gift boxes and given as multiple gifts. This drastically increases the value of your purchase, and your friends and family will still receive some wonderful gifts.

If you’re interested in wearing jewelry that is unique, it can be frustrating shopping in the mall. At these places, you’ll tend to find cookie cutter jewelry that you’ll very likely spot on at least one other person before the day is out. But there is a way around this. For those who truly want diversity in their jewelry boxes, handmade jewelry is the best option. If that’s something that you’re interested in taking up as a hobby, all you’ll need is a few initial materials and a little bit of time.

If you want to make a standard necklace, purchase some nylon coated wire cable, beads, clasps, and needle nose pliers. Arrange the beads in any way you desire. With this kind of freedom, make sure you play around with the order and arrangement of the beads. You might be surprised at what you come up with. String them on the wire, and clip off the wire with standard nail clippers. Attack the clasp, and you’re done. It will take some time to master the color arrangements and the technical work of adding clasps and trimming wire, but before long, you’re sure to be making beautiful turquoise necklaces and stunning onyx bracelets. And being handmade, you’re sure to be the only one wearing that piece of jewelry.

We are always looking for that special gift to give on a special occasion. Knowledge of the persons taste, always helps in shopping for that special person, like most women, we tend to think ahead. Flowers and candy are last minute thoughts and jewelry seems to be very popular as a gift as well. We don’t always think of accessories that would go nicely with flowers, like a crystal vase for someone that loves flowers or that handmade candy dish for your chocolate loving friends.

   I have always found giving accessory like gifts, like a handcrafted unusual jewelry box, would be appreciated more than just flowers or candy. Its those thoughtful gifts that are always remembered every time that crystal vase or handmade candy dish or jewelry box is being used. Think of a gift that will last and bring happiness and a smile each and every day, it really works.

I’ve never been a flashy jewelry kind of gal. Chunky bangle bracelets and layered necklaces are looks that have never appealed to me. Traditional in taste, I prefer to stick to accessories that are simple and delicate in style. I never change out my necklace; I’ve worn the same one for six years. It’s an ordinary silver chain with a quarter-karat diamond that rests in the center. Elegant and basic, I’ve found it matches any outfit or occasion.

Moving on to my rings, there’s only one. I expect to have a sparkling rock on my left hand very soon but, for now, I only wear one on my right ring finger. It’s a white-gold band with a sapphire center stone and two accompanying tiny diamonds, one on each side. Although my collection of jewelry is somewhat limited, I still keep a handcrafted wooden jewelry box on my dresser for aesthetic value—and to protect my things of course.

In my experiences, you can’t go wrong buying jewelry for a gift. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary or holiday, the first thing that always pops into my mind when I’m buying a present is jewelry. In fact, I’ve probably gone to that well a few too many times.

For my wife’s birthday this year, I wanted to break the cycle of tennis bracelets, diamond pendants and gemstone rings. But thinking of a gift that wasn’t related to jewelry wasn’t getting me anywhere. Suddenly it dawned on me that she didn’t have any means of storing or organizing any of the other pieces I’d got her, so I settled on a solid wood jewelry box.

Part 3: Cutting out the box, starting with a single drawer jewelry box by following the steps below.

1. You should have your band saw ready to cut by placing a ¼” band saw blade on your band saw and checking to see that everything is properly set-up, check your manual for instructions. Safety is important and you should be wearing non fog safety goggles to protect your eyes and a dust collecter attached to your band-saw.

2. Making sure your pattern is traced on the front of the box with the sanded bottom down, set your guide to ½” and slice off the back side of the box. Sand both halves of the box, then set aside the back for later.

3. Change the band-saw blade to a 5/16” skip tooth (4 teeth per inch). Following the pattern on the front of your box, carefully cut the drawer out, the drawer only, following your pattern closely. This blade is for scroll cutting and can snap easily, if you apply to much press on the blade around corners, its gets bound up or if the blade get snagged on a knot in the wood, when this happens, stop the machine and what for the blade to completely stop. Back out of the cut a little bit and re-start the band-saw again, then continue cutting out the drawer. After cutting your drawer out, you will need to sand it, before going on to the next step.

4. Next, you will need to glue the back of your box, back on and set aside to dry. Be sure that the wood grain matches up before you glue the back on. It will take an hour or two for the glue to set up before you can scrape the excess glue from the inside. We use clamps to hold the back on while they dry.

5. Next, you will need to set your guide to 5/8″ and cut the front off your drawer and then set your guide to 3/8″ and cut the back off your drawer. All parts should be sanded evenly, then set the front, back and center of your drawers aside, until the back of your box has dried completely. Join me next week for the continuing series, part 4 cutting out the inside of the drawer and cutting out the box.

Small decorative boxes are a great way to keep valuable items. A handcrafted jewelry box in particular helps to accentuate the beauty of your most treasured collections.  Jewelry on you looks like a gorgeous adorning, but jewelry strewn upon a desk just looks careless and unkempt.  Taking care of your jewelry will add more value to it as a whole.  Get a decorative box today.

Look for one that brings out the sparkling qualities of your jewelry and displays it to the visitors that you have at your house in the best possible light.  Eventually this valuable collection could be handed down to your progeny so they too can experience true luxury.

Part 2: Choosing your pattern and laminating your wood to form a solid block. Choose a simple pattern at first, one with smooth lines and only one drawer that is more oblong that will sit flat when you take the drawer of the box as you will need to master the band saw before moving on to the more complicated designs. After you have selected your pattern for your jewelry box, here are the next steps to follow.

1. Say your box is 5” high by 7” long or wide by 4” deep you will need to buy your wood at lease 5 ¼”-5 ½” wide, four quarter wood is usually 7/8”-15/16” thick and five quarter is about ¼” thicker but more expensive, but can be worth it. Measure the wood carefully before you buy, measure twice, cut once. You will need to buy enough wood to allow for cutting (1/8”-1/4”) the boards to correct length, adding the same to each boards length, for ex-sample your length is 7” cut your board 7 1/8”-7 ¼” long x 4 or 5 boards depending on the width of your wood and then, cut the boards 7 ¼” long.

2. Sanding your board flat on both sides, this can be achieved with a hand sander or a belt sander; which ever you choose is easier. You will need to laminate the boards to form a solid block of wood; wood-bonding glue is available through most wood or hardware stores. Use a hand roller to spread the glue evenly on one side of each board and allow to dry for a minute or so, then stack the boards with a zig-zag end pattern for an interesting look, then clamp the boards tight, using a strip of wood under each clamp with protect the block of wood from obtaining clamp marks. Set aside for about an hour or so, then remove the clamps and sand the bottom of your block flat.

3. Draw your pattern on the block of wood by placing carbon paper under the pattern and tracing the pattern on to the wood. Join me next week for the continuing series, part 3 cutting out the boxes drawer.