The Knothole Box – A Mysterious Package

I collect so many things. Mostly vintage, and mostly tiny. For a while now I’ve been trying to come up with something creative to do with them. Open a museum of tiny things? That would probably be too expensive and then I’d have to sit there all day….which wouldn’t be bad at first but eventually it would get old. 

Make interesting collages out of them? Well I’ve already done that for some of them:

As I started sorting things one day I thought how a fun gift for someone would be a smaller curated collection of finds. I could put them into an old box or tin…just like the opening credits to To Kill a Mockingbird…as if the finds had been collected from a knothole of a tree, all left by Boo Radley. So I started. Each collection was completely unique and I decided to call them Knothole Boxes. I even hand-carved a stamp so that each box would have a unique tag:

Fitting all the items into each tin is almost a puzzle. I wrap some and place others in little nooks and crannies. Some of the smaller items I put in little specimen containers so they aren’t thrown away:

Here’s one ready to go…Box No. 1.79Xq:

This was my third box….Box No. Pi:

Each box comes with an inventory that I’ve typed up on one of my trusty old typewriters:

I also enclose a note that explains what a Knothole Box is…just in case it’s for a gift:

What is a Knothole Box?

Sometimes I find things in my path that I often think Boo Radley (To Kill a Mockingbird) could have put there himself. I pick up little trinkets and treasures wherever I go. Feathers, shells, prickly things I can’t identify.

And I collect things. Things that I think must have a wonderful story to them. Things that people don’t use any more. Things that someone probably lost, someone just like me but in a different time. Things that need their story continued.

Each Knothole Box is filled with items I’ve carefully selected. Every box is completely unique and has been curated over time with a lot of thought. In each box is a hand-typed detailed inventory. I apologize in advance for all the x’d out mistakes. My grandmother Marge failed the typing test in secretarial school so I must have inherited her typewriter skills. There’s no backspace and my typewriter eraser went into a knothole at some point along the way.

What is this box for? Anything you want it to be. Unwrap the treasures one at a time. Investigate things you don’t recognize. Use them as writing prompts. Leave items for other people to find. This box is yours now.
 

Boxes 9 and 10 were listed on Etsy today and I’m now working on boxes 11 and 12 but they won’t be finished for a while, I still need to find the perfect elongated tin for number 12 because of some of the shapes of the objects. Every collection unique and varies in size and price. It’s become a new hunt for me to find things that will round out one of the mysterious collections. 

Sorry I’ve been a little absent but sometimes I just get off in my creative world and forget to write about what I’me doing. I have a bunch to catch on! I did finally finish up some artwork. I varnished and apple hardware to all of these yesterday and finally listed them in the shop: