How i started this collection



I have always appreciated those who had an idea and believe that necessity is truly the mother of many inventions.  Sometimes a great idea comes about after trial and error or sometimes it happens accidentally while trying to solve another issue.  All i know is that many of history's greatest inventions have their origins in Asia, specifically China.  The four great inventions of paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder are attributed to inventors from China.  When these amazing innovations spread outside of China it changed our world in dramatic ways.  I got to thinking, if these came from China, I wonder, what other inventions may have originated in China?  And so began my information quest.  

Looking back, my high school and college history classes did not really go into much detail about China.  I may have learned about some of these but it could be that i just forgot.  I also lost my best friend and fiance', who was Chinese, to cancer and felt that i wanted to do something to honor her and her culture.  I didn't know what exactly to do but just felt compelled to learn more and got the idea to start a collection.  

I discovered the History Channel had reruns of a series called "Ancient Discoveries" on tv and it was so well put together and fun to watch that I looked forward to when the next episode would come on.  I was amazed at the models they made and demonstrations they performed on this show of how the ancient technology may have worked.  Many of these episodes are now on youtube:


I also found a book on ebay called "China: Ancient Traditional Technology Exhibition" published in 2001 by the China Science and Technology Museum.  This book was very helpful and has excellent pictures of many of China's scientific and engineering achievements.  I also came across a wikipedia site on Ancient Chinese Inventions here: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions

This site was helpful but there were not always pictures of everything mentioned.  At the same time I also started searching thrift stores, antique malls, and online marketplaces like ebay and etsy for Chinese related objects of interest.  To be honest most of what i have in my collection are not truly antiques, but modern reproductions and miniature models.  Sometimes it was not an invention that i liked but just an object crafted in China that i liked to look at and would buy it and add it to my collection.  Sometimes if i couldn't find something i read about for sale I would make a model of an item just so i could study it better.  

When i had collected a good number of items i ran into the problem of how best to protect and store them.  I came across this website about the history of Chinese storage boxes that helped give me ideas about what to do about storage:  

https://www.ddartwork.com/post/the-history-of-brocade-box

This knowledge inspired me to make my own fabric storage boxes for the collection as I believe you have even more interest and a better appreciation for an item when you see how much length someone has gone to care for it.  It also builds excitement for what might be inside when you see a box wrapped in beautiful fabric you think "WoW what could be in such a fancy box?"  Having items in a box also helps in keeping the collection neat and organized.  

When i acquire an item but don't have a box to put it in i usually go to thrift stores and see if i can find a thin wooden box that fits an item.  Once i have a box i find the right fabric and cover the outside and inside of the box, cut it to fit, glue it down and finish it with a red ribbon to support the lid when it is proped open.  A little extra fabric left over allows me to make the fasteners on the front of the box.  I try to use a different patterned fabric each time i make a box to help identify the item inside.

I took photos of the collection i have so far (see top photo and one below).  I keep everything in one room that is climate controlled, its like a treasure chamber in many ways.  Every time i go in that room and start to open boxes and hold these items i get inspired to create something.  I will try to document what is in the collection through the links below.  I really just wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere to share how i got to this point and hope you might enjoy reading this blog.  Maybe something you read or see here will inspire you in some way!  


Photos of the beautiful fabric patterns found on the Chinese gift boxes in this collection can be found here:

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