Boxes and Booze 2/1/25 Boxes and Booze 2/1/25

Year of the Snache

Goodbye Year of the Dragon, hello Year of the Snake! It’s an opportune time to celebrate the uniquely puzzling and creative mind of master puzzle maker Kelly Snache.

Boxes and Booze 4/22/23 Boxes and Booze 4/22/23

Dog Days

Inspiration strikes when you least expect it, and nothing motivates some people quite like a challenge.

Boxes and Booze 8/14/21 Boxes and Booze 8/14/21

Blackout

“Like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker -- may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.”

― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Boxes and Booze 4/17/21 Boxes and Booze 4/17/21

EWE EFO

From the mischievous mind of Canadian woodworker and puzzlemaker Kelly Snache comes an absolutely interstellar space ship themed puzzle box that comes with its own silly story. Every community has its band of renegades, I suppose, and it seems that this rebellious group of ewes would rather rock the flock than sit around chewing grass all day. Something about a haircut spurred them on to road trip it into outer space aboard their stunning shiny “Ewe” Flying Object. I’m sure ewe ain’t seen nothing like it before.

Boxes and Booze 1/23/21 Boxes and Booze 1/23/21

There Goes Bill!

“Oh! So Bill’s got to come down the chimney, has he?” said Alice to herself. “Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn’t be in Bill’s place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I think I can kick a little!” - Lewis Carroll

Boxes and Booze 5/30/20 Boxes and Booze 5/30/20

Dragos

The following excerpts were taken from a dusty leather-bound journal, recently discovered amidst the stalls of an old bookstore in Ontario.

Boxes and Booze 12/21/19 Boxes and Booze 12/21/19

Santa’s Workshop

St. Nicholas was a Greek monk from the third century, born near modern day Turkey. He was famed for his generosity and kindness, especially to children, and his life was celebrated.

Boxes and Booze 8/17/19 Boxes and Booze 8/17/19

Puddleduck Pastures

Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild with a faery hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand - William Butler Yeats

Boxes and Booze 10/7/17 Boxes and Booze 10/7/17

Abracadabra

Without giving too much away I’ll just say that you’ll need to do a little magic to make this box reveal its secrets. It really lives up to its name.

Boxes and Booze 9/16/17 Boxes and Booze 9/16/17

Parameter Motion

Kel’s philosophy has always been to reuse, renew and recycle for the benefit of our planet, and much of his work reflects that philosophy.

Boxes and Booze 6/10/17 Boxes and Booze 6/10/17

Carousel Box

From the creative mind of Canadian puzzle box maker Kelly Snache comes the Carousel Box. Kel produced this as an homage to another fine box full of gears, the Stickman No. 3 Puzzle Box by his friend Robert Yarger.

Boxes and Booze 12/31/16 Boxes and Booze 12/31/16

The Gates of Time

“Time is an illusion” – Albert Einstein. I might add that all good illusions could be considered puzzles, and derive that time is a puzzle. Which is quite literally true this time.

Boxes and Booze 8/8/15 Boxes and Booze 8/8/15

Crypsis

It’s time for another Canadian theme, at least in part, due to a group of intriguing, playful people who shall otherwise remain incognito, perchance preferably. In keeping with that spirit, this post is a bit of a puzzle itself.

Boxes and Booze 5/24/15 Boxes and Booze 5/24/15

The Lost Treasure of One Tin Soldier

Inspiration comes in many ways. In this case, it was from a song, “One Tin Soldier”. The song was first recorded in 1969, sung by the Canadian group The Original Caste and subsequently covered by a number of different artists.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles