03-Oct-2024
Since the weather was not favorable today, I decided to skip the painting work for the mame puzzle box and instead prepared for the next project: the 5-sun Drawer 10-steps Japanese puzzle box. This time, all of these boxes will be my own products. I plan to make around 30 of them, with a few being crafted from natural wood. For the natural wood versions, I will use only three types of wood: Nyatoh, Hoo, and Purple-heart. These designs will be unique to this production run and are intended to be sold during the upcoming Christmas sale.
As shown in the photos, most of this production will feature traditional yosegi designs. However, I am only able to acquire this specific yosegi for the 5-sun boxes once a year now, and this frequency is unlikely to change in the future. The increasing rarity of this traditional yosegi at my workshop is unfortunate, but starting in October, I have decided to raise the price slightly for this design. It was a necessary decision, though I still plan to continue producing 5-sun puzzle boxes with this traditional yosegi pattern.
Today, I prepared and laid out the wood for the drawer-equipped puzzle boxes I’m making. The materials in the photo represent everything needed for the structure of the 5-sun drawer puzzle box (30 pcs.), excluding the yosegi panel parts. After counting, I confirmed there are six types of wood in total… but then noticed I was missing one more type for the side aruki..haha😅 I’ll add that tomorrow! So, in total, there are seven types of materials, which will allow me to build the structure. Technically, I also need plywood dividers for the inside of the box, but I’ve already purchased them and just need to cut them to size later. I’ll start by building the frame and then cut the interior dividers to fit.
This 5-sun drawer puzzle box is quite popular, and I frequently make it. As I’ve mentioned before, the first Japanese puzzle box (Himitsu-bako) I ever owned was also this 5-sun drawer type, which gives it special meaning for me. The 5-sun drawer box is quite challenging to make, so I first created a simpler 5-sun 7-step puzzle box that only had one side that moved, leaving out the drawer part. Since I didn’t know the official way to make it, I designed it entirely on my own.
The drawer box I originally received was a traditional type called “Otoiri(sound box),” which made a bird-like chirping sound when the drawer was pulled out. The lid of the drawer featured “Zogan (wooden inlay)” depicting a bird, adding to its charm. This is why the 5-sun drawer box holds a special place in my heart😊
