Wine Box Creations

Hey folks.  As most of you already know, I have been crafting some interesting pieces from recycled wooden wine boxes that I score from work.  First I choose a wine box, then I cut off most of the sides with a circular saw, just leaving a lip about 3/4in thus creating a basic frame.  Then I stain the oak or pine a dark mahogany and in some cases apply polyurethane coating.  I thought it would be cool to collect the photos from my first 7 (and a half) boxes, and give a short description of what the heck was going through my mind or a basic concept that was implemented.
My first box was inspired by a really cool tile that my friend Pam from Kaua'i gave me.  I wanted to create something larger, and was also inspired by some back splash tile work, thanks Peter, that I'd been seeing around. Not being able to really do anything more permanent in my apartment.

I get most of my materials off of ebay, and here I've used some Mexican blue "Talavera" tiles in conjunction with these small colored or stained bamboo "domino tiles," which have found their way into a few of the pieces.
The second piece was inspired by some vertical gardening links that Laura posted on facebook a while back.  I decided to try and create a living piece with tree fern bark which is a popular orchid growing medium and I have also seen if the form of large Indonesian sculptures at the field museum.  I mounted an array of Tillandsia air plants that grow without soil and take their nourishment from the air.  A few of the plants have since croaked, but most are doing OK and showing some slow growth.  This picture is current with 3 of the R.I.P.'s removed.

 My third box came together rather by accident and was built around some Japanese plastic tiles that come from a game called Hanafuda which utilizes plants and animal imagery representing the calendar year.  These tiles represent February, and feature the plum tree, which is the first tree to bloom at the end of winter, as well as the Japanese Bush Warbler whose song denotes the start of spring.  I thought this imagery was relatable to us winter dwellers in Chicago, in anticipation of it's conclusion.  It's called "Plum Pagodas."

At this point I realized that I basically have enough of these things on my own walls, and thought I should start making some for my friends.  Somehow I came up with the idea to do an homage piece for Sean of his Dad's Les Paul Black Beauty that was perhaps the single most iconic image you could associate with his beloved personage.  One of the greatest men I have had the pleasure to know.  "Pop's Oconnor's Black Beauty."  I used actual gold tone pickup covers and black bamboo tiles to represent the guitar.

Next I had a couple of pictures from my last trip to Kaua'i in February, one of me in my fedora, and one of Pete and Mary's adorable girl Finley in Uncle Bryce's fedora, that I decided to fuse together and give to her at M.J. and Paul's wedding in Coronado last spring.  I don't think it's what she wanted, since I wrapped it up and let her open it, but hope she was able to appreciate it still.  This was my first integration of photography, and I used Mod Podge Matte Paper adhesive/sealant.  This was a fairly small one at 6x8 or so.

This was the precursor to a family photo montage that I had been contemplating.  Fairly self explanatory, I used some old photos that Mom had uploaded for me with a couple of old family friends in the mix, as well as one of my favorite shots of my Mother's parents Don and Betty Arnold (Mama and Papa.)  We miss you guys!

Next I had Pam visiting from Kaua'i celebrating her birthday and put together another vertical garden inspired box with a nice slab of leopard skin jasper that I had found (ebay.)  I didn't think it would travel well assembled, so I asked Pam to mount the Tillandsia to it herself when she got back home.  I have always had a budding fascination with different precious stones.  This is an indoor/outdoor piece, if you live in the subtropics that is.  Vertical Garden featuring Leopard Skin Jasper and Tillandsia.  I thought this turned out pretty cool, and I'm looking forward to see the finished product in person.  P.S. Thanks Pam for adopting my little Bougainvillea, it's looking great!

Hang in there we're almost through!  My next inspiration was to do a Japanese architectural piece like a tea house or temple.  I ended up implementing photos again, this time with a few from the Japanese garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that I took a few years back.  The door is a picture I took of the cellar at Turley winery in St. Helena when I was interning at Neyers in 2007.  There were some grape bins in the way of the right side of the doors which I covered with some cut pieces of another photo from the same roll if you look closely.  Shaolin Temple.  Still not sure what I'm going to do with this one.

The final piece is back on the surf art tip.  It's basically unfinished, as I'm yet to permanently apply the photo, which is a classic old shot of surf legend Tom Blake surfing at Hermosa Beach pier in 1939/1940.  Thanks Swell.com fall catalog 2011!  This box had some cool removable dividers which I also stained and shellac'd.  I have the first bottle of wine that I drank when I moved into my apartment in June of 2008, and another bottle that has one of my favorite wine labels.  Catherine LeGoeuil 2005 Cairanne, and Herman Story Nuts and Bolts Syrah 2007 respectively.

Well that's all folks.  Thanks for taking a look at my Arts and Craps. I now realize that the total comes to 8.5 pieces.  This shall serve as the documentation for future collectors.  Hopefully somebody will bring one of these into Antiques Roadshow in 60 years!

Ten Thousand Dollar Tuesday

  So, for about a year or so, I have been the fortunate participant in a series of tastings at the home of my esteemed colleague Steve R.  We have been privy to a collection of amazing older wines collected by Rod V. during his many years in the wine business.
  These are not your average wines that folks like us can afford.  Had they not been purchased at an opportune time, before they became known, popularized, and aged carefully under temperature controls, these wines would fetch mind-boggling prices.  Thus the 10, 000 Dollar Tuesday title here. 
  We are a small group of passionate food and wine aficionados, paring these wines with appropriate fare, thanks largely to Steve, and Clint's culinary explorations.  It seemed like high time for me to start sharing the experience hopefully in a way that is of some interest. 
  These notes detail our tasting on March 29th, 2011.
Attendees: Rod, Steve, Gary, Clint, Myself

Bollinger 2003
subtle nose,  mango, white peach, gains weight on the palate

Bouchard 1976 Montrachet Grand Cru- Domaine de Chateau de Beaune
glistening viscous apple juice to the eye
initial nose fairly intense cantaloupe, finishing with a lingering butterscotch
so amazing with the duck liver pate, also serving beef tartar salad with egg, onion, and vinaigrette
* This is especially notable as my birth year's vintage, this is the second time I've had the good fortune to try this wine, the first being almost exactly one year prior.

Domaine Marey-Monge Romanee St. Vivant 1969
smoky, toasty nose, some iodine and prune. light brown color with a limited core of ruby, some soy developing on nose.  This wine was in the furthest state of decline of all the wines we tasted.

Romanee-Conti 1969 Monopole  The current vintage price of this wine alone is pushing $5,000. 
bright brick red, fiery nose, plum and soft cherry, mineral component more vibrant.
stewed veg/ forest floor, smoked almond, nose going prune now, cherry still there...staying alive

Henri Lamarche 1969 Vosne- Romanee  La Grande Rue **
ruby to light orange at edge, vibrant black plum and a strong citrus fruit character here, some sawdust?  most vibrant fruit of the flight so far, but the nose of the Romanee-Conti still piercing, outlasting this wine
Pate and 69' burgundys  =   ahhhhhhhhh....

Armand Rousseau 1969 Charmes-Chambertin
dry cola nose, potting soil, most alive fruit yet!, ruby sunset color, best tasting quote ever: "it's like rubbing a butt," thanks Gary!!
Now dining on grass fed beef, roasted bone-in sirloin with potato gratin, braised mushrooms and onion.

Jaboulet-Vercherre 1969 Clos de Vougeot ** perhaps the most famed vineyard in all of Bourgogne
asian spice, cola, round/smoove, dry cherry and herbs, full red color, bright nose. wow!

Romanee-Conti 1970 La Tache Monopole
red berries on nose, alive, grape, red cherry, plum, perky compared to the 69's, a.maz.ing.ly youthful

Ch. Haut-Peyraguey 1975
savory, fairly sweet, nice wine, light caramel, honeyed red apple, served with chocolate cheesecake

  These wines are so interesting, you can't easily convey it.  We are tasting history, and the character of these wines is still very much intact.  Fruit is diminished, grapes turned to raisin, eventually leaving only the basic elements of alcohol, acid, and tannins, forming a structure, and a vehicle to transport you to the place and time when these vines gave forth their fruit.
  I had hypothesized that the "buzz" or "high" from wines like that almost seems fundamentally different from that of the young wines most of us are accustomed to.  Certainly the alcohol is lower in these wines than most anything drunk international these days, but perhaps the actual composition and evolution effects the mind and body slightly differently as well.
  Well thanks for reading.  Some final notes, the **'d wines were my favorites of the day, I have to agree with Steve that the Clos Vougeot was the wine of the day.  Not terribly surprisingly, the most impressive name Domaine La Romanee-Contee wines, although brilliant and sound, were not the favorites of these tasters.  Until next time, Salut!