Cabinet of Whimseys and Joseph Cornell

As I am trying to build my own work inspired by Joseph Cornell, I found the link below to be particularly interesting.

Anonymous Works: Cabinet of Whimseys: Rare as hell. A cabinet of 13 different folk art whimseys made by a man named Charles B. Gardiner.

I am a bit lost on how to start with my boxes.  I have acquired two types of boxes, so I'm good there.  All I need is what goes in them.  Building up a repository of junk should be easy for someone whose friends and family have lamented their very under-appreciated ability to collect treasure.  (Hey, it's my blog, I can describe my skills in glowing terms!)  But my boxes aren't about junk, they're about expressing an idea.

Whenever I think of Joseph Cornell I think of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time-Traveler's Wife.  Not the film, which I refused to see on principle, but the book, which I loved.*  In the book Alba describes how Cornell must have made the boxes (particularly with the birds) because he was lonely and wanted company.  I found that idea intriguing.  That, combined with the idea of Clare making tiny paper sculptures in her tiny studio in her's and Henry's first apartment made me think in terms of creating a discrete world, a box which could contain an expression, an idea, a feeling.

 (above images, and the one at the top, from this source)

But the idea didn't start (or stop) there. It was also inspired by the work shown below, The Cabinet of Curiosities, from the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.  Then it veers into ideas of authenticity (being inspired by Cornell, how can make sure that my work is authentic and not merely a copy?).   And then my brain goes into overdrive with ideas and problems and how to implement all my genius ideas into reality.  I don't have enough time... or is it that I lack willpower?

It's taken me forever to finish putting this together explaining my ideas.  Lack of willpower?  Confusion?  Too many ideas?  Need more ginko?  I just don't know.

I'll let you know how it goes on the boxes.

*I made a good friend over his hatred of the book.  He called it "trite", but his phone's predictive text changed it to "tripe", which I thought was funny.

Note: Serendipity! Found this without looking for it!  Look at this!
This is what I think my insides look like, particularly  my brain and my heart.  This is beautiful.