 |
| photo by Geoff Horner |
The Great Box Project
is well underway! The box has been made and shipped to Oxford.
The Great Box is very
large (1040mm
long x 610mm wide and 710mm high), so
finding the right plank was crucial. This is from an ancient tree, worked in
traditional ways in a modern carving shed on Haida Gwaii. Here Jaalen Edenshaw,
one of the carvers, assesses the planed wood and measures it to match it with
the dimensions of the historic box at the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Several months ago, we
sent 1:1 scale photographs of the historic box to Gwaai and Jaalen along with
technical drawings and detailed measurements so that they could begin to think
through the project and find the right wood for it.
 |
| drawing by Madeleine Ding, Pitt Rivers Museum |
Grooves or kerfs are
then cut across the board, and then steamed until the cedar becomes pliable and
can be bent. The photo below shows Jaalen steaming one kerf, with another kerf
in the foreground.
 |
| photo by Geoff Horner |
This produces a
beautifully tight and economical corner:
 |
| photo by Geoff Horner |
The box begins to take
shape:
 |
| photo by Geoff Horner |
It’s
a big box though: how will it get to Oxford?
