Coronet Box

Coronet and Box

Baroness Julia asked me to put pearls on her circlet. It was tarnished and the fur inside looked like a half-starved, half-skinned rabbit.

After removing all the leather, fur and glue residue, the circlet was polished by hand. Then pearls were wired on. I attatched a strip of navy suede with a pinked edge that would just barely show, and behind that put new white rabbit fur. The wide strip of suede enabled me to put a wider band of fur.

For the box, I found a "large jewelry box" at Michael's Crafts. The lid was falling off, but no matter since the lid was the same size as the box. Duke Logan was kind enough to plane, cut and sand a piece of 3/4" 1x12 for me, since the box needed to be delivered quickly and I'm not near my woodshop here. I rubbed the wood with Minwax 'provencial' stain and painted her heraldry on the lid with enamel paint.

Using cotton batting and cotton velveteen, I upholstered the box, trimming it with the braid. The oval in the center is wooden, covered and glued into place.
After upholstering I cut the hinges out of leather and glued them on, securing them with carpet tacks since the tacks bear a close resemblance to handforged nails. The heads of the nails were painted with gold enamel. The clasp is actually a purse clasp I happened to have on hand, attatched with carpet tacks. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but more importantly, Baroness Julia is happy!

Clicking on thumbnail images will show you the larger version.