A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles
Pairing craft cocktails with crafty puzzles
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.
El Capitan
Tyler Williams of Beard’s Woodshop continues his Avenger’s themed offerings with the Captain of them all.
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?
Architecto
Christophe has a mind full of artistic visions, and each of his unique productions has taken inspiration from an identifiable source and story which he meticulously brings to life in his incredible way. Despite the clear and obvious influence of MC Escher’s “Relativity” on his newest masterpiece, Architecto, the roots for this creation began elsewhere.
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.
Space Case
I think it’s a fairly universal truth (universal in the sense of applying to all of humanity, not to the actual universe, which would be rather preposterous to presume about, and here I go anyway) that we are all fascinated in one way or another by the idea of other life, “out there”.
Something or Nothing
Popular opinions about the possibility of alien life suggests that our mysterious Universe-mates are either omniscient and wise, intent on contacting us to provide enlightenment, or just the opposite, hostile and violent, hell bent on killing us and taking our planet for their own.
UFO Box
Benno de Grote has produced a number of clever puzzle boxes over the past few years, and has both building plans and fully constructed puzzles available on his website. More recently he has acquired his own laser cutter and is releasing new designs, including this cute and clever UFO.
Spring Camera
Hideaki Kawashima, a member of the Karakuri Creation Group of puzzle box artists located in Hakone, Japan, loves cameras. He is an accomplished amateur photographer, and has a fondness for vintage film cameras. He has even let his passion influence a few of his puzzle box designs.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
They were standing under a tree, each with an arm round the other’s neck, and Alice knew which was which in a moment, because one of them had “DUM” embroidered on his collar, and the other “DEE.” “I suppose they’ve each got ‘TWEEDLE’ round at the back of the collar,” she said to herself.