I was reclined in the dentist chair waiting for the doctor to check my teeth when I looked over at the counter and saw a white metal canister with a ball centered on the lid. I snapped a picture for reference because I’m always open to visual ideas that I can use in my work wherever I see them, even at the dentist.
That was a few years ago, and I have since lost track of the photo, but the idea of making wooden apothecary started with that canister. Ideas for projects usually linger in the back of my mind for a long time before I actually get around to trying them out. So, the timeline of this story plays out in small pieces over a few years.
The first one that I made was for a collaboration project that I did for the AAW’s Women in Turning. Box-making was still a new skill for me and I wanted to explore it further. I made a burl wood apothecary jar with a butternut lid.
The next few that I made were larger and I kept with the theme of jars with contrasting wood tops. Some turned out better than others, including some where the ball top ended up too outsized.
In 2019, I attended a presentation on box-making at the Totally Turning Symposium by Joe Larese. He showed us these tall, thin boxes that he made from pen blanks. With that inspiration and know-how, I made a tall and thin apothecary jar and sold it as a pill box.
In the spoon carving community, I learned about hand-carved shrink pots. This is where a small trunk is hollowed out while the wood is still wet and a disk is lodged into one end to become the bottom. As the hollow trunk dries, it shrinks in size, hence the name. These are then decorated with milk paint and carvings. Often a lid with a pull knob is made to fit.
I wanted to try making a version of this on the lathe and my opportunity came last year with the fig branch I worked on for my friend. I kept the natural peeled-bark outer edge and it turned out very rustic. Working with wet wood is trickier because of the cracking risk. I hollow them wet and, more often than not, these half-done pieces accumulate in my project pile while the wood dries and my attention shifts to other projects.
This past Spring, I made a range of variations, from tall enough for cotton swabs to short ones that work as ring boxes.
Inspiration comes in pieces over years and ideas cobble together in the back of my mind until I sketch them out on the lathe in various forms. I still want to make more of these apothecary jars and I recently bought some larger drill bits to cut the insides with. More to come. In the meantime, this one is available for $80 USD plus postage.
Coming up in July, I’ll be teaching a workshop on how to make a bud vase at Brookfield Craft Center on the 13th.