Magic Box

From members’ albums

Magic Box

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A leather cube with no visible lock, lid or moving part: a steel frame covered with carved leather outside and soft deerskin inside, with a Celtic Tree of Life and falling leaves on each face, counting one to six like a die. It opens only when the faces are turned up in the right order; a microcontroller and an accelerometer read which way gravity points and compare the sequence with the stored code. Made by Eugene Pik, it took Best in Show at the Society's 2015 Annual, with Craftsman and Salon Ribbons. The photographs follow its making from June to October 2014.

Magic Box: a carved leather cube with a Celtic Tree of Life on each face, held in the hand

Magic Box electronics: the microcontroller board and sensor that read the box's orientation

Carving a Celtic Tree of Life in leather with a swivel knife, for the Magic Box

The six carved Tree of Life leather panels for the faces of the Magic Box

Tiny cut-out leather leaves in the palm of a hand, for the Magic Box

An electronics test setup with components in a plastic tub wired to a DC power supply

Magic Box, the finished carved leather cube, on a garden table

Magic Box, one carved and coloured Tree of Life face with copper corners

Photographs in this album by Eugene Pik, released under CC BY-SA 4.0: free to reuse for any purpose, commercial use included, with credit to Eugene Pik, provided adaptations are shared under the same licence. Photographs with a “Wikimedia” link are also on Wikimedia Commons, under the same licence. How to use and credit them