My daughter recently developed an interest in rocks and minerals, and through exploration, museum shop visits, mail orders and charming the staff of a minerals workshop into selling her a rare chunk of real labradorite from Labrador, her collection has quickly grown past the series of plastic boxes it started with.
I had been meaning to build her a display case, when I stumbled upon an antique movable type drawer at a reclaimed wood store last fall. As I was waiting for the bus with my recent acquisition in hand, a fellow rider asked me what I was going to do with the “California suitcase” I was carrying. As it turned out, he used to work for a Toronto printer, and this was how he had learned to call this particular piece of furniture.
Over the coming weeks, we cleaned it up, brought the brass inlets to a shine using Bar Keeper’s Friend and a toothbrush, and then stained the wood to enhance the grain and increase the contrast with the brass.
We’re both very pleased with the result!
