Phone call from heaven

I didn't actually get a phone call from heaven, as I suggested in my post last week, I got one from my art pal Pamela, who has been using her lockdown to clean out the garage and basement.  She wondered whether I would like to have some cigar boxes.  Wood or cardboard? I asked.  Both, she said.  How many are we talking about?  A lot, she said, and if I took the whole bunch she would even deliver them to my doorstep.

And so I am now the proud owner of four huge boxes of boxes.

Some of the wooden boxes are deep, with tops that slide out from grooves:

Some are shallow, with hinged tops:

Some of the boxes are varnished and others are unfinished.  I tend to like the unfinished ones better, and I wish the varnished ones had been finished with a little bit more care, but have been using both of them. 

I have been taking the slide-out tops away for use in separate pieces.  Once you saw off the tabs that slide into the grooves, they make nice little supports for collage.

I've been working on several of these boxes at the same time, for efficiency.  While the glue dries on one (here, weighted down with heavy bottles)...

...I can proceed on another.  I've finished seven boxes so far, I think, with three or four more in process.  I'll show you the finished ones in subsequent posts.

Meanwhile, THANK YOU, Pamela!  I know you didn't call from heaven, but you are certainly an angel to give me this fabulous trove of art materials!