Three factors brought this together;
First I had some oak that I had machined from a very old lump that had been sitting around for years and I was always going to make a box with it.
Second I found the heart shape in some burr maple veneer.
Last but not least it was my wife's 40th birthday coming up and she needed another jewelry box because the other one is full...........so she tells me! ;)
The idea then began to form, I was limited in size and shape by the size of the oak I already had but I think the square shape worked very well and is different from most jewelry boxes you see these days.
I still made the error of using boxwood flat lines instead of squares and also learned that you should heed the advice of never using pale French polish that is more than six months old because it will never really go off (I had to re-polish it some time later).
I've read in various places that the open grain nature of oak is not really suitable for French polishing but I have to say that the extra effort is worth it IMO, the grain really does have a lovely glow.
I guess that's all for now, thanks for dropping by :)
CM2011
