Our Blog
Nickel Hinges – Neat!
The Neat Nickel Hinges we’ve been waiting for are now available for sale from our website in the hardware section. They are to be reviewed by Furniture & Cabinetmaking (magazine) , Fine Woodworking (website/magazine), American Woodworker (website), and Canadian Woodworking (September eNewsletter). They are excellent quality – stock is limited so get in early! We are nearly finished our first batch of boxes for Mo Eden, London, and are working on keepsake boxes for twins from bonnie Scotland. We are also producing a box for Aryma which will be featuring some exceptional marquetry will keep you posted.
We’ve been very busy and so have just been going on day trips with the kids to the Causeway Coast, Portrush, Carnfunnock, and Ulster Folk Museum (our favourite spot in the world), to name a few. There’s plenty to go and see in this wee country. Just as well it isn’t any bigger or we’d never get any work done.
Little Black Boxes
It’s the start of the summer or is it the end? Not too sure due to the weather being cold one day and the next I need SPF 30 on. Oh well, mustn’t complain… As for boxes I am happy to say Hawthorne Crafts and Mo Eden London have teamed up, and we will be producing little black boxes for their Digit watch. Each ring watch is hand crafted with diamonds and gold, not to mention the finest Swiss movements . Other news is that our hinge fitting video is coming along but will take a few weeks due to current workload. Our high quality hinges will be available in nickel in several weeks time and this side of the business has proved very successful. I have also finished a large cufflink/watch box and I will add some images to the gallery section in the coming weeks bye for now.
Box making videos on the horizon
It’s almost June but there’s still a nip in the morning air and so the workshop stove is lit in the early hours. I will be adding a ‘How-to’ video soon to help those of you who are using our hinges or similar ones to visualise the method I use. It will cover installation, centring and fitting the screws and working around common problems. If this takes off I will add other box related videos. So, if there’s an area you would like to see covered then please email me – ian@hawthornecrafts.com – with your ideas and if I get enough interest in that area I will produce a video.
As for box news, my Yew Trilogy Box has been sold by those lovely folk at the Designyard and very quickly too! It was delivered on the Friday and sold on the Saturday – WOW. They now have the Oak Trilogy box, so fingers crossed. I have still quite a few commissions to get out and ring boxes are currently IN PROGRESS. Finding time is hard. The hardware sales have been very good and I have re-ordered from my engineering friend, and this time I have added stainless steel to the list which should be here in the next few weeks. We also have a project article in next month’s F&C on the making of the Royal Box so be sure to get it!
New Yew Trilogy Box At Designyard Gallery
We have a new box from a trilogy of boxes being put on display at the Designyard, Dublin from this weekend. It is called the Yew Trilogy Box and is created primarily of Native Yew with three Yew Burr portraits on the lid top surrounded by bleached Sycamore veneer. The accompanying lift out tray is created from native Sycamore and both the tray and box lid have been decorated with Art Deco influenced detailing. Images can be seen in our Gallery Section. The Queen will be in Dublin next week so hopefully she’ll get a chance to pop in! We are currently completing another of the trilogy boxes, created from Oak and Oak burr, and hope to have it ready by early next week. Our hardware section is working out well and in a few weeks time we’ll be adding stainless steel hinges to our list.