13-Jun-2025
Today it was cloudy, but the humidity was a bit lower than usual for this season. So I decided to put the work on my current boxes on hold (To dry the materials further) and focused on making the frame panels for the 36-steps puzzle box.
In fact, the structure of these frame panels is the same as the ones used for the 5-sun 27-steps puzzle box. The shape of the frame is the same, but the internal parts are different. That said, I’m still using the same parts as the ones used in the 27-steps mechanism, I create the 36-steps puzzle box by adding more parts to those frame panels.The 36-steps puzzle box has two Kannuki (slide keys) on one side, and each one moves in a different direction—left and right. So, it needs a separate mechanism for each bar. That means it requires twice as many parts as the 27-steps mechanism.
When I checked the parts I had in stock today, I noticed that I probably don’t have enough of the small stair-shaped parts. So I decided to take this opportunity to make more of them. However, I’ll work on that part of the process another day, not today.
I ended up preparing materials for 32 boxes this time. As I mentioned yesterday, I was thinking of making some designs other than the traditional yosegi style. However, since there were many requests for the traditional yosegi type, I decided to focus only on that for this batch.
The 36-steps mechanism takes a lot of time and effort, so making too many at once would be difficult. That’s why I’ve limited this batch to 32 boxes. Making the same design also helps the process go more smoothly and quickly. I’m hoping that the time saved will give me a chance to work on some more unique boxes afterward.
I’m also making progress on the original yosegi sheets I mentioned the other day. This week, I prepared the parts for two different patterns. On rainy days when I can’t work on other steps, I plan to assemble these parts and create the yosegi patterns.
Wishing you a nice weekend!
