My Shaker oval boxes, carriers and trays are made entirely by hand. The bands have "swallowtails" cut from solid wood, mainly Cherry, Ash or Maple. They are immersed in very hot water, and bent around a wooden former. The bands are then fastened with solid copper tacks which are manufactured on machines dating back to the mid 1800s
This process is repeated where lids are required. Tops and bottoms
are made from a variety of timbers and attached with wooden pegs. Some boxes are oil finished and some are hand-painted using milk-based paint as the Shakers did. The colours are very close to those the Shakers used by mixing pigment into the base paint. The first Shaker-made oval boxes were produced in the 1790’s in New Lebanon, New York, USA. Shaker Dictum
"If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to make it. If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to enhance it by adding what is not an integral part of its usefulness or necessity. If it is both useful and necessary and you can recognize and eliminate what is not essential, then go ahead and make it as beautifully as you can."
