The Music Box Project-constructing a turning block

 Hi Everyone,

I've been thinking about the intersection of disability and craft. I want the music box to be functional-that is an object that will house the music mechanism and enhance  it's volume and also standout in a typical living environment so it will be noticed and hopefully picked up, wound up, and listened to. To that end I'm going to make a laminated block and try to make the block as colorful as I can with the wood I have available here. 

Let's take a look at this:

I began with several pieces of ash wood and a small section of Spanish cedar which would be used as a lid. This would produce a box that is basically yellow with a reddish brown lid. Not visually interesting.

Next, I tried re-arranging the block. Still no.

I tried adding some reddish woods to the mix. Getting better but still no.

This is when I decided to pull out my treasured piece of purple heart wood and some white oak. I cut them into sticks and looked at them:

Getting better. Then I placed the sticks together and alternated the colors to produced a checkered effect and placed it with several other different types of wood together in a block:

It's getting better. I think the addition of some dark brown or black wood would be a good idea so I'm off on Monday to find some walnut and then do more re-arranging.

Stay tuned, 
VW