Boxes and Booze 9/11/21 Boxes and Booze 9/11/21

Dabbit Invasion!

This story arguably starts back in 1892, in a German satire magazine called Fliegende Blätter (flying leaves / loose sheets), where the first published illustration of these ambiguous animals appeared with the caption “Rabbit and Duck”. Was it a rabbit, or a duck?

Boxes and Booze 9/4/21 Boxes and Booze 9/4/21

HexTrios

Third times a charm may or may not apply to this set of puzzle boxes, the HexTrios by Eric Fuller and Matt Dawson. That depends on whether you find devilishly puzzling mechanisms to be charming or not.

Boxes and Booze 8/28/21 Boxes and Booze 8/28/21

Lift Box

Next on the menu is a little light fare to lift your spirits and set the mood. It’s one of my favorite Fuller boxes because it’s just so darned clever and incredibly well executed.

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

Mame Box

Welcome to the epicurean experience of the season, a limited interlude featuring a truly passionate champion of the art form. I’m going to be serving a five course meal that will leave you a little Fuller each week.

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 8/7/21 Boxes and Booze 8/7/21

Book Puzzle Boxes

It’s time to reach for a good book. We love books at Boxes and Booze headquarters, and puzzle boxes compete for space on the bookshelves with them here. Monday Aug 9 (2021) is National Book Lover’s Day, which is cause for celebration, and calls for an apropos special offering.

Boxes and Booze 7/31/21 Boxes and Booze 7/31/21

Donay Apple

Last summer I spent a puzzling “sabbatical” teaching classes at the University of Berkeley. The course didn’t take place in sunny California, however; rather, it was located in the English Midlands county of Leicestershire, where master turner John Berkeley resides.

Boxes and Booze 7/24/21 Boxes and Booze 7/24/21

Perpetual Hinge

The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can not be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another. The second law relates to entropy, stating that any system will move toward a state of disorder. These two laws should suggest that the mythical “perpetual motion machine”, a device that works via its own contained mechanics, forever, is an impossibility.

Boxes and Booze 7/17/21 Boxes and Booze 7/17/21

Tornado

Master craftsman Akio Kamei, the founder of the Karakuri Creation Group of Japanese artisans, is famous for his ability to create pieces that tell a story. His work is prized for its novelty, beauty and ingenuity. It’s no wonder that he has been a source of inspiration and admiration for American artist Kagen Sound, whose own work is highly prized for similar reasons.

Boxes and Booze 7/10/21 Boxes and Booze 7/10/21

Hydrant

The Hydrant was Austrian puzzle designer Stephan Baumegger’s sensational entry in the 2018 International Puzzle Design Competition, where it garnered him a top ten vote award.

Boxes and Booze 7/3/21 Boxes and Booze 7/3/21

CORVI 2020

Of course everyone responds to a pandemic in their own way. If you happen to be an Australian dentist with lots of drills and no teeth in sight, you start dreaming about a virus puzzle.

Boxes and Booze 6/26/21 Boxes and Booze 6/26/21

Nail Box

Bill Sheckels has been crafting fine furniture for over fifty years. He has been fortunate to run a successful small business over the years in pursuit of his life’s passion. His beautiful craft is highlighted by Scandinavian and Shaker style sensibilities and the simplicity of form that follows function.

Boxes and Booze 6/19/21 Boxes and Booze 6/19/21

One Hand Box

Those who follow the works of Robert Yarger, the brilliant puzzle maker behind the Stickman Puzzle Box Company, know that he likes to create new puzzles and explore different genres. He rarely revisits an idea, and when he applies his focus to a new project it becomes extraordinary.

Steven Canfield 6/12/21 Steven Canfield 6/12/21

Surprising Drawer

So how does one create something actually surprising in a puzzling object? A set of drawers, for example. What is surprising about that? A plain set of three drawers, like this one, beautifully crafted and ordinary. No one would think twice about them, except for the fact that they come from the Karakuri Creation Group of puzzle box artisans.

Boxes and Booze 6/5/21 Boxes and Booze 6/5/21

Small Cabin

Benno de Grote has been tinkering with his puzzling ideas since he was a little boy, and despite limited access to materials and tools, has been able to produce quite a number of puzzle boxes which many will recognize.

Boxes and Booze 5/29/21 Boxes and Booze 5/29/21

Flaskolation

Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artist Yasuaki Kikuchi has been thinking about life in the pandemic for a while, and wanted his new creation to express his observations, his frustration, his belief in science, and his ultimate hope.

Boxes and Booze 5/22/21 Boxes and Booze 5/22/21

El Capitan

Tyler Williams of Beard’s Woodshop continues his Avenger’s themed offerings with the Captain of them all.

Boxes and Booze 5/15/21 Boxes and Booze 5/15/21

Goldilock

It’s been a minute since we visited our old friend the locksmith so it’s high time we hail him again. Masquerading by day as Kent’s own master locksmith (when he isn’t a master carpenter), this English entrepreneur has the key to your every locked away desire.

Boxes and Booze 5/8/21 Boxes and Booze 5/8/21

Portal

According to Arthur C. Clarke, the Monolith ought to be an evolutionary accelerator. I’ve always thought of it as more of a “portal”. But it turns out that there is another portal, and perhaps all of this messing around in space ships has been a colossal waste of time. Why take the space highway when you can just teleport from point A to B in an instant?

Boxes and Booze 5/1/21 Boxes and Booze 5/1/21

The Joy of Hex

From the mischievous minds at play in the Two Brass Monkeys workshop in merry old England comes their most raucous achievement yet, a set of twelve hexagonal burrs stick puzzles that are sure to make you blush.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles