WELCOME TO

BOXES N SUCH

Our small layered tramp art box carved by 
Ed Allen, President of Boxes N Such

Tramp Art, although a collector’s item, is a type of carving of which there is not a lot of information. Generally speaking, Tramp Art is a layered work in which chips are removed for a simple or an intricate design. There is disagreement about the origins of Tramp Art. Some will say that tramps or hoboes created these objects in payment for room or food. Other knowledgeable resources would argue that this was not the case as  many of the larger items may have required a lengthy stay in one place to complete which would not have been the common lifestyle of the tramp or hobo. Whatever the actual origins and purposes were for this art form, it is an interesting project to consider.

It has been said that people created Tramp Art from whatever material was available around them. Often cigar boxes and wood from crates were “recycled” to create layered boxes. The cigar box would serve as the base for the project and pieces of the wooden crate were cut and placed in pyramid fashion on the top and sides of the box. Glue was not readily used because of the nature of the itinerant carver. It may have required a melting pot or similar process. Typically, the pieces were attached with small tacks. The layers of wood attached to the box were chip carved. In some cases, the notches left when the chip was removed would be the entire thickness of the wood. In other cases, it may have been only half the thickness of the wood. It became a matter of the artist’s own style or creativity. The notches were sometimes fewer with a wider space between them or sometimes closer together. There were no rules to Tramp Art just like a chip carver today is free to use his or her imagination to create a masterpiece unlike any other. It is doubtful that the Tramp Art carver of days past carried a toolbox full of layout tools and a large selection of carving knives. More likely, the notches were “eyeballed” and cut accordingly. Depending on the project, geometric shapes or designs could be added as a free-form chip carving to the box. However, carvers today have the luxury of laying out a pattern or creating a cardboard template of the finished design.

Close-up of edge notching

Tramp Art was not limited to boxes alone although boxes typically show the most common “Tramp Art” look. A lot of carved items today which are not easily classified as to style are labeled Tramp Art due to the fact that the term is sometimes considered a synonym for a “folk art” sort of look. Other items ranging from picture frames to furniture were created using this technique. Boxes N Such has taken yet another turn in their offering of unassembled wooden boxes to the carvers of today. With the Tramp Art style in mind, Boxes N Such is offering an unassembled, layered wooden box. It begins with a standard wooden box kit. Everything is included in the kit to make the box, but then in addition, there are pieces of wood that, once chip carved, can be attached to the top and sides of the box. (Additional add-ons are also available.) Assembly instructions and helpful hints are included in the kit, but the pattern and style is completely up to the individual. There is no end to the exciting and new items the carver can create…and it will not be long before his or her creation is also a much-sought-after collectible.