If you are creative and want to make something special for your little boy or girl, a cute music box would sure bring a smile to their face as well as create a memory to last a lifetime! If you are so inclined, here are the directions for a fun "Whistle While You Work" music box taken from Sharon Ganske's book, "Making Marvelous Music Boxes."

Materials Needed

For the Base, Including Music Box Accessories:

Wooden trunk
9" wide X 5 1/2" deep x 5" high
18 note key-wind musical movement
Turntable, 1"
Key extender, 1/2"
4 wooden bells, 1"
Sandpaper
Wood Sealer

Decorative Accessories for Music Box:

You have a friend or loved one who is getting married or is a newlywed. You desire to give a special gift to show your love and support, but don’t know what to give. If you are one who loves arts and crafts, and are creative, why not give a handmade wedding music box? It would make a creative and unique gift! If you are game, here are instructions for a beautiful, handmade, “Wedding March Music Box”. This is taken from Sharon Ganske’s book, “Making Marvelous Music Boxes.”

Step One: Prepare chipboard boxes. Another name for them is chipwood boxes. Since the sides of the boxes are flimsy, you would need to reinforce them by applying hot glue around the inside of the box between the side and bottom. After the glue has hardened, apply a heavy layer of Tacky glue to the insides of the box and then allow to dry.

Many love music boxes. For the music box and antique collectors who are creative and like trying new things, making their own music box creation would be a great way to test their creative ability. In addition, if one knows a friend or relative who is soon to be married, the gift of a hand-made wedding music box would be unique and special. This special gift would be sure to bring very special memories for years to come. Here are step-by-step instructions for making a “Hawaiian Wedding Song” music box taken from Sharon Ganske’s book, “Making Marvelous Music Boxes.

Materials Needed

For music box and antique collectors, taking good care of their valuable collectibles is important. For those who have inherited a collection of wonderful heirlooms and haven't the foggiest idea on how to keep them nice, or have not been keeping up with their collection as well as they should, caring for these special items properly has wonderful benefits. It ensures that they can be passed down to loved ones or sold at their highest value.

The following are tips on caring for antiques and collectibles. In addition, online sites such as the BBC and Antiques-UK, Amica.org and mbsi.org for music box antique collectors, anteq.com., and listantiques.com also provide detailed information on caring for various antiques. Don't forget about eBay either as they are tons of antique buffs there. Be sure to check out the collectibles forum.

For the serious music box collector, looking after their valuable collection is important. Though preserving, conserving, and restoration sound similar, there is a difference between these concepts. Let’s discover that these differences are.

Preservation: this means ensuring that one’s music box is protected from deterioration and damage. It means taking such good care of it so that the likelihood of it being damaged is minimal.

Conservation: This means to stop and further deterioration that has already has or still is occurring and to reverse the process.

Restoration: This means returning a music box to its original state. It also means there will be no attempts to improve the original by use of materials, decoration, or finish.

There are many collecting enthusiasts. Some collectibles that people enjoy collecting include music boxes, glassware, vintage pottery, limited edition pieces, antiques, antique model cars, and NASCAR collectibles to name a few.

Some enjoy collecting so much that they choose to start their own business, which is exactly what Nancy of nancyscollectibles.com has done. A love for glassware, pottery, and limited edition pieces resulted in her starting her own website. I recently did an interview with Nancy about her collectible business. Let’s listen in and get a behind the scenes look into what it is like to run an online collectible business.

Many antique and music box lovers enjoy collecting musical jewelry boxes, carousel music boxes, wooden keepsake boxes, and other musical gifts. There are some music box and antique collectors who are interested in photographing their boxes. Reasons to take pictures include desiring to preserve details of musical pieces, which collectors have had, and as a way to exchange information with others who are interested. Also, if one has a very valuable and expensive collection, photographs might be needed for insurance purposes (think natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina). That said; let’s look into how to photograph a music box.

There is much more to music figurines, wooden jewelry boxes, children’s jewelry boxes, and wooden keepsake boxes that meet the eye. Indeed, all mechanical music, including music boxes, has a unique history. Let’s continue to discover what that is.

After the creation of carillons, chiming watches, and barrel organs, musical movements made from carillons without bells or hammers began. After Antoine Favre’s creation of using a steel toothcomb, which could be plucked to make music (cylinder music box), initially no one thought of making a music box just to enjoy. However, some, such as Phillppe Meyland did begin to make musical snuffboxes, and a group of watchmakers in 1810 and began to work on manufacturing small movements for watches and seals in Geneva. This resulted in the Geneva industry beginning and was started by the likes of Henri Capt, Les Freres, Long Champs, Morse Aubert, and Pierre Rochot. Sometime later in 1812, L.G. Jaccard, Jereme ReCordon started a similar product.