Tiny ichimatsu yosegi
As expected, it’s been raining since this morning and the humidity is high, so I spent the day preparing for upcoming work. Starting next week, I’ll be making 4-sun 27-steps puzzle boxes for the Hakone market, so today I also worked on attaching yosegi sheets to wooden boards for that purpose.
I’d love to make some for my own stock as well, but this particular box uses Mokuzougan—a type of wood worked inlay—for the top and bottom panels. Since the puzzle boxes are made to match the size of the artwork, the dimensions of the box are a little different from my usual 4-sun boxes. Because of that, I’ve decided to produce only the Hakone market versions for this time.
Mokuzougan is made by specialized craftsmen. It’s usually framed and hung on walls as decorative artwork. Occasionally, it’s also used for small items or as decoration on the surface of puzzle boxes. However, since it’s not made to match standard puzzle box dimensions, I often adjust the size of the box to fit the mokuzougan panel when making this kind of box.
Now that I’ve nearly wrapped up a long stretch of making tiny puzzle boxes, I wanted to share one special type I made this time—a box with a checkered yosegi (ichimatsu) accent, as you can see in the photo. Actually, I originally made this checkered yosegi pattern to create accessories. But since that project was left unfinished 😅, I decided to use the pieces for these Mame puzzle boxes instead.
It may be hard to tell from the photo, but I tried to stack an equal number of small squares both vertically and horizontally. However, when I stacked six small squares, there was about a 1mm difference between the vertical and horizontal lengths. With such tiny yosegi, even a small difference in pressure can cause the pattern to become distorted, which makes it really tricky to work with...😂
See you next week! Have a great weekend!
I’d love to make some for my own stock as well, but this particular box uses Mokuzougan—a type of wood worked inlay—for the top and bottom panels. Since the puzzle boxes are made to match the size of the artwork, the dimensions of the box are a little different from my usual 4-sun boxes. Because of that, I’ve decided to produce only the Hakone market versions for this time.
Mokuzougan is made by specialized craftsmen. It’s usually framed and hung on walls as decorative artwork. Occasionally, it’s also used for small items or as decoration on the surface of puzzle boxes. However, since it’s not made to match standard puzzle box dimensions, I often adjust the size of the box to fit the mokuzougan panel when making this kind of box.
Now that I’ve nearly wrapped up a long stretch of making tiny puzzle boxes, I wanted to share one special type I made this time—a box with a checkered yosegi (ichimatsu) accent, as you can see in the photo. Actually, I originally made this checkered yosegi pattern to create accessories. But since that project was left unfinished 😅, I decided to use the pieces for these Mame puzzle boxes instead.
It may be hard to tell from the photo, but I tried to stack an equal number of small squares both vertically and horizontally. However, when I stacked six small squares, there was about a 1mm difference between the vertical and horizontal lengths. With such tiny yosegi, even a small difference in pressure can cause the pattern to become distorted, which makes it really tricky to work with...😂
See you next week! Have a great weekend!
