Kagen Sound & David Welter
September 26 – October 7
This is box-making with an engaging twist. For the first two days, students learn to make traditional Japanese puzzle boxes. Then, with Kagen and David’s expert guidance, they design and build beautiful wooden boxes of their own, which may include special features such as hidden openings and secret drawers.
For the puzzle box, students learn to assemble an infrastructure, cut plates of wood that slide in sequence, and finish the exterior with “yosegi-zaiku,” a multi-colored parquetry mosaic. Through lecture and demonstration, the instructors address a multitude of box-making techniques. These include design considerations, wood selection, hand-cut and machine-made joints, application of commercial and shop-sawn veneers, parquetry, locking mechanisms, special “moving” joinery, and drawer making, among other topics. For their independent projects, students may work with solid wood and veneer, as they choose.
Kagen Sound is a full-time box maker in Denver, CO, with a background in mathematics. His complex, secret-opening boxes have received grand prizes and people’s choice awards numerous times in the international Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition. In addition, he has been accepted as a master craftsperson into Japan’s Karakuri Creation Group, the world’s only guild of secret box makers. For more on Kagen and his work, visit kagensound.com.
David Welter is a woodworker in Fort Bragg, CA. From 1986-2016 he worked full-time as shop manager and ad hoc instructor in the Fine Woodworking Program at the College of the Redwoods, now known as The Krenov School. Currently David exhibits at the Highlight Gallery in Mendocino, CA and writes for Fine Woodworking. Recent articles include “Make Your Own Spokeshave” (Jan/Feb 2020), “Make a Top Float” (May/June 2020), and “The Dowel Joint” (Jan/Feb, 2021).
Open to intermediate woodworkers.
