The Bookmark Boxes

The Bookmark Box is the second concept in my “operated box” series following the Battery Operated Box. The final box is the Coin Operated Box (to be announced December 2023). Each in the series works entirely differently and has no relation to the other.

The Bookmark Boxes are made in three versions of increasing difficulty to solve: Walnut (easiest), Purpleheart (medium), and Cherry (difficult). All three boxes feature the same first trick move which utilizes something very unusual and unexpected. The limits of what you expect wood as a material can do are once again pushed a bit further. You will have to let go of your preconceptions in order to solve each Bookmark Box.

Along the way you will also gain access to a functional bookmark. The pattern or "yosegi" on each bookmark is a hand-pulled veneer using a Japanese style wooden plane. It requires great skill and quite a bit of elbow grease on top of that! I broke a sweat pulling over 300 veneers for this project.

Some fun yosegi videos below from past experiments and projects. I am always learning about this technique and improving. Yosegi-Zaiku is ultimately the most advanced woodworking technique I have come across in the last 25 years of woodworking I have done. It requires immense skill and precision.

Extra wide yosegi. Setting up this type Kanna (Japanese plane) requires even more skill due to the nuances of the tool being so subtle. This yosegi was used for the making of the Plus Box.

Yosegi image of my daughter. The photo-realistic image is made from hundreds of different curvy shapes of wood! More on it here.

Video showing how I build my own type of braid yosegi from scratch. I have been making braid patterns since I first began woodworking in 1999. My braid pattern was inspired by Celtic knots.

Many more yosegi videos on my Instagram feed.

The Walnut Bookmark Box. Easiest of the three. Also the most functional. Once you know its secret, you have quick access to its safe-keeping.