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Wedding Capsule

Friends wanted a particularly special wedding gift for other friends- a box to house notes from friends and family, notes to be opened at various times throughout the lives of the married couple. Vertical grain (VG) old growth Douglas fir was salvaged from a deck demolition near the San Juan home of the groom. Through this project, I explored both the process of making non-toxic plywood and the cutting of curved miter joints. Because the box tops and bottoms are joined to the sides of the boxes on all sides, there is no room for seasonal expansion and contraction. While VG Douglas fir moves minimally relative to most woods, it would eventually cause cracking and/or failure at the box ends. So, I cut my own veneers and laminated the curved top and flat bottom before assembly. The curved miters were easier than I expected, but the through dovetails are very difficult to cut in fir because of the varying densities of early and late wood in the growth rings. L 12 x W 10 x H 3.