Puzzle Box

For my project I was inspired by my Mom's puzzle box that my dad got her in Costa Rica a million years ago. I have been obsessed with this jewelry box since I was a kid and I knew I wanted to do something similar to this design for this project.

 I love the idea of multiple parts within the box working together to conceal what is inside. I think its cool that you have to think about how the box gets taken a part to reveal what is inside and you have to work to put it back together.

I hope that with my box I can emulate a similar complex design that is bigger in size and has a more curvy shape.

The Box

I struggled all of last week trying to find inspiration for this project and then had a very tough weekend. I'm coach high school girls soccer and on Saturday we had our first playoff game and my starting defender was nowhere to be found. After making multiple unanswered calls to both her and her legal guardian I was contacted 10 minutes before game time and informed that my girl overdosed on alcohol Friday night and was found at 4am that morning unconscious in the middle of the road in one of the worst parts of town in Yakima, where I live. This was going to be her first game back after recovering from a concussion and her overdose and falling and hitting her head when she passed out caused swelling in her brain and she was sedated for 16 hours. Having to visit one of my favorite kids in the hospital and seeing the girl that always comes to practice with the biggest smile on her face and a good and encouraging attitude at practice day in and day out, strapped down to a hospital bed and sedated broke my heart. I soon found out that this was her second attempt in the last month to kill herself and I couldn't believe that this kid of all people was so broken inside. She's a beautiful girl with one of the best spirits I've ever been around and I feel like most people who know this kid would see her big smile and never give a second thought to the pain behind it. I want my box to provoke discussion on mental health. I plan to have the exterior sides be very clean and potentially have a floral pattern. Something light and pretty to distract from the mess within. I was the inside of the box to gives the illusion of it splitting at the seems and I was to do some chaotic carving on the inside of the box. I want it to show an internal struggle that can easily be overlooked because of the beauty that meets the eye on the exterior.

This is work from a local artist, Bernadette Crider. She's the woman who first taught me how to throw and I love this lidded casserole form and I think her Ginko Leaf carving detail is beautiful.





These are pieces by Martha Grover and I love the bottoms of a lot of her jars and boxes because they come up around the rest of the vessel and I would like the try this technique with more of a floral quality

Opening up

For my project, I want to create a box that focuses on concealing than revealing the object inside. I designed this box with my wedding proposal in mind. Before I was engaged I was in a place in which I could not freely be myself; I had to hide my love from the world. After being engaged, I was in a new environment that celebrated my relationship openly. I designed the box so the top section is a stopper to hold the four walls up and when removed the flower form opens to reveal the ring inside. I was inspired by the box bellow but could not find the artist who created the piece. I had many concerns with the structural integrity and would have liked to read about the artist’s process. I also drew inspiration from Marianne Nielsen who creates realistic flower forms out of ceramics. If the four separate walls do not work out, I will merge them into a lid that can pull out from the center of the flower. I would like to create a box that you would not instantly know how to open. 

Le Box

For this assignment I am continuing the fish scale inspired surface work that I have been doing but I want to push it even more with this project and make it more insteresting and challenging. I will be combining both subtractive and additive technques to create an organic yet unnaturally busy surface. For the lid I want to make a fitted puzzle top like the ones Stephen showed in the demo.

Dandee Pattee - I just enjoy how rounded and organic her pieces look. I want my overall shape to have the same softness


Stephen Robison - This is the type of lid I want to make and I also enjoy the added organic forms on top.


Alisa Holen - I love the texture that she puts on her peices and how plump and organic the forms feel.




Tara Wilson


I'll put my sketches on here soon

Some tea canisters

Initially, I started off as I typically do, thinking about the endless topics that I feel strongly about, but of which few, I am compelled to respond to through my art work. Then I came to this thought where I wanted to create a piece that had no concept behind it other than it being a practical piece that was made for a purpose that spoke to the desires of those who I am closest with...that can be summed up on one short word: tea. See, I live for tea and the opportunity to drink tea over a great conversation...so I wanted to make "boxes" that would reference tea. What better containers than loose leaf tea canisters?

Rather than making one container, I will be making a series of three small-medium size canisters that will have a lid, created so that the tea will not grow stale. Unlike the photo pictured to the right, I do not want the canisters to be uniform in shape. Likely, they will have a painted design parallel with each other and be different forms. I hope for these forms to be delicate pieces with a great deal of detail painted once glazed. 

I plan to use terracotta to create these pieces because I think it will be an effective material while using the tin-based glaze and various under glazes to add detail and dimension to these pieces. I am currently unsure of the style of lids I hope to utilize, but will research demos and more information regarding what creates the best seal to store foods in while still ensuring that the piece looks finished and the lid does not look too utilitarian that it detracts from the fragility and ornamentation shown in these pieces. 

Though I am not making a teapot, I am crazy about the lid on this pot, I think that it is beautifully cohesive with the rest of the form, which is something that I hope to captivate in these canisters...I want whatever lid that I design to look like it's supposed to be there: an ambitious journey I am sure to embark on seeing as I have not yet made a lid. But I am excited, surely. 

-O.D.