The Cursed Box was a project that started out as a mechanical box but developed in different ways as the needs of the production evolved. The original requirements was to build a wooden box with a hidden drawer. The actor would need to hold the box, facing out, and the drawer  “magically” pops out, revealing a card. In reality, we had a small button on the bottom of the box that the actor pressed to pop out the drawer. 

The box was made from solid walnut that was laser engraved and cut, then mitred. There was a false bottom, held in place with hidden set screws. Loosening the set screws would allow the bottom to drop out, revealing the mechanism. The mechanism for the pop-out action was designed around sliding tracks and using elastics for tension, each part was machined.  

In addition to the mechanical box, the production also needed plastic foam ones for a fight scene. We didn’t want them to use the mechanical ones for this purpose because it wouldn’t be robust enough to receive impact. We made a mold of the original and cast them out of urethane and foam. As they practiced with it, it turned out that the material was still too hard. We adapted by casting them purely out of foam. This sacrificed some of the details that the urethane was able to pull, but it was well worth it in this case. The original mechanical box was aged and the plastic ones were hand painted to match.