WOODCARVING & ACCESSORIES

Jewelry Boxes Large Sized, for Your Entire Collection, Embellished with English Brown Oak Wood

It is not hard to find jewelry boxes large enough to organize and safely store your jewelry. But considering the huge size of the box, it would be good to buy one that has some exotic art work done on it to draw attention away from its sheer bulk.

It can be quite challenging for women to organize and store their jewelry. Most women keep their jewelry in its original box, which means that soon enough a woman will have a zillion boxes and pouches holding all her trinkets. And she would be constantly hunting for the right pair of earrings or necklaces to go with her outfit.

Any woman who loves collecting jewelry would welcome a beautifully handcrafted large jewelry box. It not only serves as a safe receptacle for the jewelry, it also acts as a showpiece and enhances the decor of the room. But a box completely carved out of a rare or exotic wood will be quite exorbitantly priced.

You can instead opt for a beautifully handmade and yet inexpensive box made out of durable and sturdy locally available wood like white mahogany, which is adorned with some art work like marquetry. Several different burls and pieces of veneer of exotic wood like the extremely attractive English Brown Oak, are used in marquetry.

The English Brown Oak (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea) of the Fagaceae family is an interesting example of exotic wood. It is not a tree in itself but an English Oak that has fallen victim to a fungus. Strangely, this fungus – the beef steak fungus – does not harm the tree in any way and seems to only want to colour the heartwood a rich honey brown that is impossible to reproduce with stains. The fungus dies only if the tree is chopped down, milled, and dried out.

English Oak, German Spessart Oak, European Oak, Yugoslavian Oak, Polard Oak, Brown Oak, French Oak, White Oak, Pollardok, are some of its several names. The density of this wood is approximately 42 to 45 lbs per cubic foot. The English Brown Oaks from countries like Great Britain, France, Poland, Canada, and Yugoslavia, usually have about 8 growth rings as opposed to the impressive 30 to 40 growth rings of the German Spessart Oak.

It has a high resistance to rot caused by a wet environment and its high level of tannic acid content can corrode metals. Depending on where it’s from, the color could vary from a deep, rich brown to a light biscuit colored tan. This wood is extremely attractive because of its beautiful silvery grains that make it the ideal choice for jewelry boxes and for use in marquetry. Its age and place of origin can determine the final price of the wood but it is still a very expensive wood.

The true marquetarians, who are the experts in marquetry, love to use the English Brown Oak in their work as it provides a touch of sophistication and charm to their art. It especially looks great on the lids of jewelry boxes and transforms a dull wooden box into a classy piece of art!

This article was brought to you by MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes are original works of art, no two creations are the same. Each wood shown has its own unique wood grain pattern and color. MarqART comes from combining the words marquetry (wood inlay) + Art (a creation of beauty) an apt name for our products. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic jewelry boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!
Glen Guarino, woodworker – NJN/State of the Arts

African Art from New Jersey Collections. Subjects and Representational Modes Great exhibition catalog featuring art and objects from art collections in New Jersey. 100 black and white illustrations of artifacts and artwork from Africa. Sculpture, wooden carvings, figures, maskes, tools, ceremonial objects, stone carvings, fiber arts. Works from the Bamana, Dogon, Toma, Iaai, Luba, Bobo, Benin, Yoruba, and other African cultures. Softcover. Unpaginated – 90 pages. Measures…