Matters of the Heart
Heart Box
Heart Box by Alex Owens
Alex Owens is an ingenious puzzle box designer. They say you never forget your first love, and it’s likely true with puzzle boxes too. I’d argue with a Mowen’s puzzle box, on the other hand, that try as you might, you’ll get lost every time – and probably love every moment all over again. His designs are so complicated, devious and layered, yet equally so inviting, transparent and conspicuous. Nothing is ever really hidden or blind, yet you will certainly struggle to find all the right moves. It’s a particularly compelling metaphor for one of his earliest designs, the Heart Box. Alex will be producing more of this design, which he has been revising and perfecting, on his website soon, and with my own wedding anniversary on the horizon, it seemed a perfectly apropos puzzle to promote.
cross my heart
Alex shared some of the love story: “This box was started many years ago as a birthday gift for my sister. I believe it was only the third box I designed (first Rainbow, then Button) but I’m actually in the middle of my 3rd redesign since then. At the time my sister was in love with the color pink so I figured a Heart shaped design would be a nice gift! I’d also recently seen a bumper sticker with some sort of cross-hatched design that I was eager to try adapting into a puzzle.”
heart’s desire
There is something relatively unique about the Heart Box that Alex designed specifically for his sister as well. The first time the puzzle is solved, there are no shortcuts. You will need to earn this puzzle’s affection. But once accomplished, there is a key element at play which can be used to access the main compartment easily, if desired, even after everything has been reassembled again. “This one was interesting as while my sister enjoys puzzles, she was too nervous to open the box without me around lest she forget how to put it back together. To solve that, I added the lock/key concept so she could close the box up but keep the key handy and open it without going through all the hassle!”
early protype piece - courtesy of Alex Owens
“The lock/key mechanism itself was really hard to design in a way that it worked reliably, but was still printable.” 3D printing as a puzzle design medium presents its own unique set of problems to solve. In one of Alex’s early prototypes for the Heart, “the ‘cap’ piece came off downwards and the compartment itself had a weird print-in-place ‘drawbridge’ type mechanism. This was a problem though because the mechanism wasn’t intuitive and often times someone would give up and try something else only for the cap to fall to the ground when they let go. Plus the drawbridge left a big hole in the bottom when it was closed which I wasn’t a fan of.”
find it in your heart
The Heart Box has undergone so many redesigns over the years that Alex was even surprised at the changes. “I pulled out my older prototypes of this design to jog my memories, and it’s crazy to see how completely different it is now. A lot of my older designs had a lot of cool ideas but weren’t quite optimized in terms of mechanisms, reliability or hardiness. I’ve been really enjoying going back and redesigning them to realize their potential, and I plan to dive into Rainbow next!”
take it to heart
Like any worthwhile courtship, the Heart Box captures your imagination, builds slowly and takes some serious effort. “I really like the progression of this solve. I like how it starts off straightforward, but slowly grows and adds new elements to think about. You start in thinking in just 2 dimensions, but soon add in the 3rd dimension, mechanisms below the surface, … etc. I like that the last few steps are really tricky while still keeping to the persistent goal of ‘just remove the next slider.’” It’s hard work and requires a give and take. It gives you a little, then takes away … your confidence … then rewards you again, just a bit. It plays coy, flirts and teases. You’re going to have to spend a lot of time with it to learn its secrets – this is no one night stand. At times it might feel like you’re getting nowhere, that maybe you’ve reached the limits of this relationship, maybe you each need your space and each want different things. Like it just wants to hold hands but you want to find all its secret compartments and get your heartfelt reward. But you know deep down that heart box wants this too, and you can’t give up on it. No one said love was easy. Maybe I’ve taken this analogy too far, and now I sound like a puzzle box predator. I’m going to have a heart to heart with myself later and sort this all out.
A Love Supreme by Erin Ashford
I’m sticking with the theme for this toast, because love, as they say, is in the air. The cocktail was created by Austin, Texas based bartender Erin Ashford, who until recently was the beverage director at Olamaie, one of Austin’s best restaurants. Her newest venture, as co-owner, is Holiday, a refreshingly different approach from the typical moody and masculine bar scene in Austin.
how to make love …
Her Love Supreme is a smoky mezcal love bomb, full of flavor thanks to the cassis liqueur and hint of amaro. Mole bitters also round out the decadent experience. Ashford recommends Don Ciccio & Figli Luna Aperitivo for the red bitter in her drink, which I will one day get my hands on, but allows for Campari too (and everything’s better with Campari). She told me a little about her cocktail: “I wanted to make a sultry, smokey mezcal margarita variation and was listening to a lot of jazz at the time so I named it after the John Coltrane album. I like drinks that pair a fruit with the earthiness of mezcal so the cassis was perfect for it.” If you like mezcal, you will love this drink, and if you don’t like mezcal, you should try it anyway. It might just change your mind. Here’s to love – it’s complicated! Cheers!
love is in the pair
A Love Supreme by Erin Ashford
2 oz mezcal
½ oz crème de cassis
¼ oz red bitter aperitivo
½ oz rich turbinado syrup (2:1)
¾ oz lime
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass over ice. Salt rim garnish.
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