Boxes and Booze 1/6/24 Boxes and Booze 1/6/24

Cupping Season

I’m feeling symbolic and nostalgic all at once to start this new year.

Boxes and Booze 10/7/23 Boxes and Booze 10/7/23

Mona Lisa Smile

Incisors, canines, premolars or molars, pick your favorite out of thirty two choices.

Boxes and Booze 4/16/22 Boxes and Booze 4/16/22

Ze Tomago

There are a few well known makers who have eggcelled at [making eggs] but none are quite so prolific as Australian dentist Stephen Chin, who has made, shall we say, an eggcess of egg puzzles over the years.

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 12/5/20 Boxes and Booze 12/5/20

Humpty Dumpty

Over the next few weeks I’ll be taking you on an adventure down the rabbit hole. Many have heard tales of this fabled project, and it is time to celebrate the makers. It all begins at Christ Church, Oxford, in the afternoon on Jul 4, 1862.

Boxes and Booze 4/11/20 Boxes and Booze 4/11/20

Humpty Egg

Let’s start simply, by mentioning the fact that the talented Dr. Stephen Chin, diabolical dentist by day and wily woodturner by weekend, is rather fond of making puzzle eggs.

Boxes and Booze 1/18/20 Boxes and Booze 1/18/20

La Boomba!

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” – Bhagavad-Gita

Boxes and Booze 6/15/19 Boxes and Booze 6/15/19

Ze Bomb

Stephen likes to take complex interlocking polyhedral objects, such as the humble cube, and “turn” them into practically impossible objects by spinning them on his lathe to create spheres, footballs, apples, and in this particular case, bombs.

Boxes and Booze 11/17/18 Boxes and Booze 11/17/18

Ze Genie Bottle

Sometimes, it’s rather useful to have a genie lamp handy. It may not actually produce any genies, or grant wishes, but you never know. Stephen Chin, the master of the lathe, worked some impressive magic with his “Ze Genie Bottle”, which he produced for the 2017 International Puzzle Party.

Boxes and Booze 9/15/18 Boxes and Booze 9/15/18

Drunken Dancing Fraulein

I’m turning upside down with this post as well and channeling my friendly dentist from down under, that madman of mechanical mischief, the Leonardo with a lathe, puzzle maker Stephen Chin.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles