Wedding · DIYOct 02, 2014 · 3 min read

Making a Jewelry Box

I needed a jewelry box for a 10-inch Vietnamese gold kien — nothing on the shelf fit. So I woodburned her initials onto a Michaels box and built the interior myself with foam board, foam core, and microsuede.

When I was thinking about preparing the jewelry gifts for my fiance, I encountered a unique problem: there was a traditional Vietnamese necklace called a kien - a solid loop of gold ten inches in diameter. We had a set of three made in Viet Nam, but we needed a way to present the gifts at the ceremony.

Vietnamese áo dài and jewelry (Kien)
Fig. 1 — Vietnamese áo dài and jewelry (Kien) Open full size ↗

Calligraffiti

I couldn't find a jewelry box that was ten inches in diameter, so I thought it'd be nice to customize a special jewelry box. I wanted to personalize it by engraving her initials on the lid. I had envisioned something scripty with a lot of swashes, but street art influences found their way into the final sketches.
Initial sketch of... initials.
Fig. 2 — Initial sketch of... initials. Open full size ↗
I started with a wooden box at Michaels. I transferred my sketch to the box, then used a woodburner to make it permanent.
Initials sketched onto Jewelry Box
Fig. 3 — Initials sketched onto Jewelry Box Open full size ↗
I started with the Universal point for the outline. Once the outline was complete, I used a shader tip for the inside.
Initials woodburned onto Stained Jewelry Box
Fig. 4 — Initials woodburned onto Stained Jewelry Box Open full size ↗

Inside the Jewelry Box

The inside of the box is divided into two sides: one, tilted to mount the kien; the other, divided into ring rows.
Custom Jewelry Box (Inside)
Fig. 5 — The Inside of the Jewelry Box Open full size ↗

Making Ring Rows

For this I used:
  • 1 sq yd Red Microsuede - You'd think felt would cut it, but it looks like crap. Considering how much time you will invest in making this box, splurge a little bit and get a nicer fabric.
  • Foam Board - this will form the structure of the insides of the jewelry box
  • Medium Density Foam Core - fabric store
  • Foam (optional) - stiffer than foam core, more flexible than foam board
  • Woodburning Iron, Blade Tip - this is used to score the foam board, and a heated blade will melt through the foam core
  • Spray Adhesive - to wrap microsuede around the foam core

I used foam board to give structure to the insides and serve as the divider. The "soft" parts, such as the ring rows, are foam core wrapped in micro-suede.