Trinket Box Mystery

While vacationing in Northern Michigan last week, we came across a large antique "barn" in Beulah. Among the tons of bottles, cans, fishing reels, and furniture I came across this box in a locked cabinet. I liked it so impulsively I bought it.

So at this point, I'm not really concerned if it's really an antique or not, I just want to learn a little history about it. How old is it? Are there others like it? What's it really worth? The box is made of brass (I think) and about 3.5 inches wide x 1.5 inches deep x 1 inch tall. On the bottom, it's stamped with "Made in Japan" and a symbol that looks like a globe with "K I" in the middle.

Checkerboard

I've had some 3/4 inch ash boards sitting in my garage for a few months and finally decided what to do with them: I built a checkerboard set complete with a magnetic drawer to stow the pieces.

Tornado Warning

The other night a series of storms rolled through the tri-state area and spawned tornados in three counties in Southwestern Ohio. I happen to live in one of them and while I don't think I caught of picture of a tornado, what I did catch shocked me enough to freeze me in place. It wasn't until my wife reminded me that I should be in the basement that I went inside.

"Madness"

I've always liked to draw, I think it was the only thing that got me through High School. One of the drawing habits I developed was to put a bunch of small drawings and patterns together on one page to make one big mass of...well...madness. I have several iterations of "madness" -- here is one of the more recent versions.

Drysink with Matching Shelf

My wife had me build a shelf to match the dry sink. Overall I think it turned out pretty good.

Project Complete -- Mostly

The poly is still drying on the drysink project but it's mostly complete. All that's left to do it figure out how to put the shelf back in and rough up the corners a bit. Now it's on to my next "assignment".

Tetris

Note to self: When designing a cabinet, make sure that the inside shelf fits through the door. I had to play shelf-Tetris for a half an hour yesterday trying to fit it through the cabinet door. There is one way that it goes in and one way that it comes out and it's easy to forget.