Sleepy Fox Locking Lid Box - Spalted Beech

Turned from a huge beech tree that fell near a friend's smallholding.

Over the past few months the wood has mellowed and begun to spalt, the beautiful patterns you can see running through it.

Locking lid boxes are complex to make requiring some specialist tools and plenty of experience and fine control to get things right. To open the lid simply turn the lid until the two dots line up then lift the lid. To lock it tuck the tab at the opposite end to the dot under the rim, drop the lid into place and turn gently clockwise until it stops turning.

It was turned on my Bowl Lathe, the traditional way of making cups, bowls and boxes for thousands of years. This wonderful lathe is powered by nothing more than my legs.

I have been adding animals to the lids of these boxes over the past years as they remind me of the creatures who also live where I do in Northumberland, who I see most days, and who I share this space with.

The foxes near us are country foxes and, unlike their city cousins, will disappear at the first sight of people so we need to be extra quiet to spot them. We often see them crossing the open grassland behind our house, hunting mice and voles in the long grass and maybe a rabbit if they are lucky.

This box is 6.25"/15.5cm in diameter 4"/10cm high.

finished with walnut oil and milk paint.

please contact me if it needs posting outside the UK for cost