Spoonman - Box 13

The band Soundgarden's song "Spoonman" is about Artis the Spoonman, a famous street performer in Seattle, who uses spoons to create percussive music. He is quite an entertainer. Chris Cornell wrote the lyrics to explore the paradox of how society misjudges eccentric street musicians, valuing them poorly or viewing them as outcasts simply because they live unconventionally. Artis has played spoons for over 20 years - it is his only vocation.

I made this box out of barnwood that came off of the old corn-crib on our property, when the doors blew off in a storm years ago. It has a very distinct texture - like ridges, which I did not sand down, because I liked that look - and the box feels great in your hands. I scorched the wood and used both black and black cherry stain to see if I could get the colors to sit side by side, but the wood was very old and dry - it sucked up the stain and the two colors gelled together, which is fine. You can still see some original white barn paint on it as well - which I did not remove. I used the same wood for a bar top in our house.

Box gifted to my sister Kathy, a big fan of Soundgarden.