The most interesting homemade gifts are those that have an intriguing story behind them.
This project is a small wooden box that incorporates oak, plexiglass, and a 3D printed element. It was built in 2017 as a thank you gift for David Lance Goines - a well-known poster artist living in California (more about him below).
This story started in 1989. I was 8 years old and more interested in building things with Legos then lumber. David Lance Goines was already well established in Berkeley, California and had been printing posters for some time. It was also in 1989 that David Lance Goines printed poster #136, Acme Bread. (Check out the poster and information about it on his website.)
My father was (and is) a fan of Goines' work. Many of his distinctive posters adorn my family home in Chicago, and I believe they subtly influenced my own artistic tastes during my youth. Later on, my parents gifted one of the framed posters from their collection to me - and I proudly hung it in my own home.
Knowing how much I enjoyed them, my parents gifted me a few more of their Goines - one or two at a time over the next few years. I'd even managed to acquire a couple on my own (Those, unfortunately, have yet to be framed. Why is framing so expensive?).
The last poster they gave me was #136, Acme Bread. (Above, I gave you the link to information about this poster on Goines' website - if you haven't checked it out yet, do it now.) I hung this poster in the dining room but couldn't get over the feeling it looked different then it had when I saw it hanging on the walls of my parent's house many years ago.
It was the color - something was off about the color.... When I looked up the poster information on Goines' website (hopefully you've done that by now) I found out the original 1989 printing of the poster had used fugitive inks. Goines writes:
"What could be found of the earlier, unsigned edition was recalled and destroyed...and reprinted with more lightfast inks May 15, 1993."
The mystery was solved! Obviously my poster was one of the remaining 1989 printing - the fugitive inks having had 25 years to change the intended colors of the poster.
The problem now was what to do about it. I wasn't comfortable displaying the aberrant Acme Bread poster, because I felt Goines would have wanted those posters destroyed. The poster could easily be swapped out of the frame for another one - but acquiring another signed Acme Bread poster might be difficult. (Oh, I should mention it was a signed and numbered print, so probably a bit pricey to replace.) I took it down from the wall and thought about what to do.
Yes, I know this is supposed to be about the wooden box - I'm getting there.
Years earlier (in college) I had penned Goines a somewhat embarrassing email - fan mail, really. I don't know if famous poster artists normally receive fan mail - but I definitely think they should. Mr. Goines gracefully wrote back, thanking me for my kind note. (This made me feel wonderful, of course.)
Thinking back on this experience, I decided to simply email Mr. Goines and inform him of the situation:
"My father recently gifted me a signed copy of your poster #136 (Acme Bread) for my growing collection of your work. I remember growing up with it hanging on the wall of my family home - and something about it now didn't seem quite right. After some investigation (via your website), I discovered that it was one of a run printed with fugitive inks and, as a result, the colors had changed.
I'm wondering if it might be possible to obtain a signed copy of the reprinted poster? My online searches haven't turned up any leads, and I figured it couldn't hurt to inquire at the source."
I was hoping to receive a price quote for a replacement Acme Bread poster (signed posters by Goines are sometimes difficult to find).
Much to my delight, Goines offered to replace the poster for free - even resigning it with the same number! All I had to do was send him my address and the number on the poster.
A week or so later I received the new poster - almost identical (fugitive inks aside) to my original copy. Here they are laid out next to one another:
Fugitive Ink Version (1989) --- Reprinted Version (1993)
I immediately opened the back of the frame and painfully (and painstakingly) removed the old poster and installed the new one. Hanging the newly-framed poster up on the dining room wall and taking a step back to admire it, I was reminded of years and years ago in my parents house - admiring the poster while it hung high on their wall (I was shorter back then).
I smiled for the rest of the day. :)
I knew I had to thank Mr. Goines - but I didn't think a simple thank you email would be enough. I decided to return the favor in kind - using my own craft skills to make something unique for the generous poster artist
This, in the story, is where we finally come to the small wooden box.
Without going into too much detail about my personal artistic and design beliefs, lets just say I wanted to make something unique, but also functional in some way.
If you've read other posts on this blog, you'll see that my furniture projects are usually pretty sizable (see here or here). I wanted to make something for Mr. Goines that I could send in the mail without having to hire a bunch of muscly guys with a truck. Thus, it had to be fairly small.
I decided on a small wooden box. Big enough to hold things like business cards - but small enough to sit on the edge of a bookcase or desk.
I always have scrap and reclaimed material from previous projects floating around my shop - perfect for a project like this. I decided on oak (always an attractive material) for the body of the box, and I frosted some scrap plexiglass for the box lid.
Now, I needed a custom element to the box that would potentially be meaningful to Mr. Goines - and would show him, I hoped, how much I appreciated when he did for me.
One of the unifying elements of many Goines posters is a logo designed from his name: David Lance Goines (seen here on the top of his website). I decided to use my 3D printing experience to three-dimensionally recreate his logo in ABS plastic, and attach it to the plexiglass lid of the box:
I typically use AutoCad for my 3d modeling.
The finished box and lid.
This took a bit of time and effort - but I was happy with the results.
I sent it to Goines and a week or so later he sent me back an email telling me how much he appreciated it. Honestly, this made me just as happy as receiving the new poster! :)
Now, I'm not suggesting everyone make small wooden boxes with 3D printed elements (although it is cool). The point of this story was how I utilized scrap material, found a way to add a unique element to the gift, and made something that has some potential functionality.
The ideas for shop-made gifts are endless - but sometimes an idea for a gift (or portion thereof) can come from the unique circumstances under which the gift is initially designed. Another way to say this is to say it's a fun idea to add a personal touch to custom made workshop gifts.
Personally, I enjoy imagining what happens to gifts that I've made (such as the box)... Is it sitting on a tall bookshelf? Or being used to hold business cards? Or has it been regifted? It doesn't really matter - so long as the intention of the gift was appreciated by the recipient.
In this case - it worked out for both myself and Mr. Goines.
(But I hope he kept the box.) ;)
UPDATE: Sadly, Mr. Goines passed away Feburary 19th 2023 - but I'll continue to collect and display his work!
-Lia
Contact Me
My Writings (Transgender Woodworker content)
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My Writings (Transgender Woodworker content)
Artfully Functional (my studio)
LiaZero.com (all my online content)