A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles

Pairing craft cocktails with crafty puzzles

Boxes and Booze 1/19/19 Boxes and Booze 1/19/19

Dovetail Jewel Box

The Dovetail Jewel Box is truly a puzzle jewel of a puzzle box, one that pays homage to so many great puzzle boxes that came before it.

Boxes and Booze 3/31/18 Boxes and Booze 3/31/18

Unlocked Drawer

For this April Fool’s Day I’m turning to one of my favorite groups of fine folks, the local Texas talents of Kathleen Malcolmson, Perry McDaniel, and Robert Sandfield. Together they produced a classic little conundrum which purports to be nothing of the sort.

Boxes and Booze 10/15/16 Boxes and Booze 10/15/16

Salt and Pepper Shakers

The deviously puzzling Sandfield brothers, Robert and Norman, designed their Salt and Pepper Shakers to exchange at IPP 22 held in Antwerp in 2002.

Boxes and Booze 9/24/16 Boxes and Booze 9/24/16

ReBanded Dovetail

The Sandfield’s ReBanded Dovetail was their IPP 32 exchange puzzle in 2012. Designed by Robert and Kathleen and crafted by Kathleen from light baltic birch plywood, walnut and lacewood, these little boxes feature a double dovetail on the ends and are wrapped tightly with double bands of shimmering lacewood.

Boxes and Booze 10/4/15 Boxes and Booze 10/4/15

16 Move Puzzle Box

I’m very fortunate to live near one of the best American puzzle makers to have done so in recent years. Kathleen Malcolmson now resides in Houston, Texas, the home of Boxes and Booze as well. A few years ago she produced a series of beautiful Japanese style puzzle boxes with a twist in her workshop in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Cotopaxi, Colorado, where she used to reside.

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