My first experiences with marquetry was making jewelry boxes. They had simple marquetry pictures for the tops. the boxes themselves were solid woods. I marketed them through the craft show circuit. I had about a dozen floral designs and i would change the background woods to expand the variety. There were very basic boxes with lift-off tops. Most were hinged. I did some with curved tops like little treasure chests. I would occasionally do a special order with a drawer at the bottom.
Boxes proved to be an ideal way to learn the craft. There wasn’t a huge investment in time to build a box. I was able to experiment with various wood combinations to see what I liked. However there was always more work in making the structure than there was in cutting the pictures. It was my hope to outgrow the box business and begin making furniture.