17th Century embroidered casket

I have started on a project that I have wanted to do for a long time, Sundays are supposed to be my day off from working on commissions but not today, I started building a prototype of a 17th century embroidered casket. Because of copyright laws regarding photos I am sending you to a few websites to look at to see some original caskets.

I am planning on making two different caskets, one with a domed lid like this one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a flat lid one like this one in the Museum of Lancashire. One of the biggest charms of these caskets are all their secret drawers and you can see them in this casket at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

So how the heck does one fit in all those drawers into a piece that measures only 18 mm (11/16") high without the lid and feet and what wood does one use to get to more or less in scale caskets. I went to buy some plywood today for another project and then it hit me, plywood would be perfect, it is a lot stronger than normal wood. Hmm, but will it work???

And so I had to try it to see :-), hence the madness of working on my off day!

Here you can see the back, one side and shelves glued in with the other side next to it to show you that I actually cut grooves for the 0.4mm shelves, the sides and back are made from 0.8mm thick wood. The real caskets were papered on the inside and the drawers and top compartment lined with silk. Silk will be difficult to use in so small a piece but I do intend covering the pieces with paper before gluing them together.

Here you can see the casket with the 2 bottom rows where the drawers will fit in. The top panel is a false front and when you remove it......

there is place for another row of drawers.

This whole thing was done rather hastily to see if it would work, I am pretty pleased with it because it is quite sturdy. I will need to make a few special jigs to make sure that it will be glued perfectly square. As to hinges for the doors, I have a plan up my sleeve that will involve lots of gluing area and no nails, once the casket is covered with petit point, you won't see any hinges in any case.

Have a great week

Elga