03-Jul-2025
We’ve been seeing news about extreme heatwaves around the world, and here in Japan, the hot days continue as well…😅
This morning, I attached the top panel of the Knock Box. It seems to have dried well and is now stable, so in the afternoon, I moved on to making and attaching the side panels.
The side panels for this box have a two-tone checkered design, just like the ones I used for the previous 4-sun Knock Box. However, these panels are not the same ones from before—they were newly made specifically for this square-type box. The panels used for the 4-sun version were sized differently, and if I used them here, there would be a lot of excess.
As I mentioned before, I chose to place the checkered pattern vertically instead of diagonally this time as well. I feel it matches the look and feel of the top panel nicely.
The panels have now been successfully attached and are being clamped with woodworking vises overnight to secure them.
While working on this box, I was reminded of a yosegi pattern I made some time ago called “M design” (I’ve included a photo). I originally created this pattern around 2010 or 2011. This is a pattern I made for the “Maze Box,” which I sometimes make (the movement path of the Kannuki mechanism splits partway through.) The “M” stands for “Maze.”
The design of the current box reminded me of that yosegi. Although this one isn’t as complex as the M design, I realized that I really like this kind of pattern.
One special feature of the M design is that it wasn’t made from solid panels, but from sliced yosegi veneer. So today, I pulled out some solid wood material I had started working on before—something similar to that pattern—and continued working on it a little.
I feel that if I can bring back and develop more yosegi patterns like this, it will open up more creative possibilities for my future work!😁
