Dissecting Christmas

This photograph served as our e-Christmas Card in 2008 Janice and Allen Bukoff carrying their Fraser Fir Christmas Tree into the house the late afternoon of December 23. After Christmas this tree was removed to our back deck where it remained until it was cut into pieces in May to be used as kindling to start our next winter's fires.

As we were cutting the dried Christmas tree into kindling, we decided to gather different sections of the tree and place a sample of these parts in cigar boxes. Cloth labels were created using canvas cloth and printed transfer paper.

Box One Middle Branches with Some Needles Pieces from our 2008 Christmas Tree Box 1 description: Seven cut branches from a Christmas Tree and a cloth label in a cigar box. Small outer branches with some needles. Butera Royal Vintage brand wooden cigar box (outer dimensions: approximately 7.25 x 6 x 2 inches) with hinged lid. Includes hand-washed 5.5 x 5.25-inch heavy canvas cloth label.

Box Two Cross Sections of Branches Pieces from our 2008 Christmas Tree Box 2 description: Cross-cut pieces of branches from a Christmas tree and a cloth label in a cigar box. Ninety-three branch sections varying from 1 to 1.5 inches long and .5 to .75 inches in diameter. Butera Royal Vintage brand wooden cigar box (outer dimensions: approximately 7.25 x 7 x 2 inches) with hinged lid. Includes hand-washed 6 x 5.75-inch heavy canvas cloth label.

Box Three Sections Spawning Several Branches Pieces from our 2008 Christmas Tree Box 3 description: Chunky parts of Christmas tree branches and a cloth label in a cigar box. Twenty-three sections where several or more branches originate were cut and placed in a Zino brand wooden cigar box (outer dimensions: approximately 8.5 x 5.5 x 2 inches) with hinged lid. The pieces vary in size from 2 x 2.5 inches to 1 x 1.5 inches. Includes hand-washed 6.75 x 4.5-inch heavy canvas cloth label.

Box Four Inner Branches Pieces from our 2008 Christmas Tree Box 4 description: Ten branches from a Christmas tree and a cloth label in a cigar box. Pieces cut from inner branches--5 to 7 inches in length and 3/8 to 5/8 inches in diameter. Davidoff brand wooden cigar box (approximately 7.5 x 4 x 2 inches). Hand-washed 6.5 x 3.25-inch heavy canvas cloth label.

Box Five Branches with Needles (Now Turned Brown) Pieces from our 2008 Christmas Tree Box 5 description: Nine needle-covered Christmas tree branches and a cloth label in a cigar box. End branches from our Fraser Fir Christmas tree cut to approximately 4 inches in length. Fonseca brand wooden cigar box (outer dimensions: 4.25 x 5.5 x 2 inches) with hinged lid (that only opens half way). Includes hand-washed 2.75 x 4.25-inch heavy canvas cloth label.

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Dissecting Christmas--Five Boxes by Fluxus Midwest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at allen@allenbukoff.com.