Giddy stratospheres

 So this evening myself and my friend Bex paid a visit to Abingdon fair. We were mostly there to win toys for her nephews & nieces (I had a go at playing darts to win Jam a toy fox too but the less said about that the better).

 Bex was a little late so I decided to indulge myself and have a go on the Carousel horses (they've always been my favourite ride).

 this was my noble steed

and it had a proper organ and everything

they are locally based so I might be popping into see them

as I've just borrowed this from the wood school library

Its written by a man who gave up his proper job, rented a shop and started teaching people to make their own carousel animals! The drawings inside are really fantastic and inspirational. I definitely want to have a go at some point (I've always been fascinated by carousels ever since I was little, mum & dad bought me a toy one, I think made by matchbox, but sadly its only got about 6 horses on it, but how much better would it be to have a lifesize carousel horse!) There are lots of plans inside, I had never realised there were different types of horse

This one is designed to look like its jumping as is this one

Whereas this one is in more of a standing position.

I prefer the jumping ones I think, but the angle of the leg probably makes them slightly more difficult. Its not just horses in the book either. How great would it be to have a mystic hare on your carousel?

There are also plenty of photos of the finished objects, here is a completed horse isn't it lovely?

They are fantastic & I'll definitely have a go at one (or maybe more) at some point even if I wuss out of making it full size, anyway that isn't likely to be any time soon, last week Brian was helping me get a particularly troublesome corner off the love spoon I'm carving for Jam (the love spoon that is nearly finished I might add) when this happened

 Now is not the time for panic, now is the time for glue...

Wood school Christmas meal

As regular readers to this blog will know since January last year I've been attending wood school on a Thursday night.The class runs from 7pm till 9pm and everyone has their own projects to be getting on with and works pretty seperately unless one of the tutors has something to show us or its break/parish notice time. Brian (seen above with the silly glasses on) is one of the tutors and my favourite, mostly because he is so patient and has never been discouraging about my quite ambitious project plans

We were all rather worried earlier this year when he suffered a minor stroke and was out of action for a few weeks. Wood school wasn't really the same but thankfully a few months later he is back to his fabulous self.  We all trooped along to a local pub (in the rain) and enjoyed some fine eating and some local carol singers. As a bonus I also got a Christmas card from Brian, I've been carving this William De Morgan design (he designed tiles for William Morris) in three layers in a rather large piece of wood since I started. I first saw the design when I was 12 at the Walthamstow William Morris museum & it must have made a big impression as now many years later I still remebered it. Brian has the rule that you can carve whatever you like, but it has to be something that you love, as that way you are more likely to finish it. He told me I was taking on a lot when I first started his namesake (Brian the lion) it is a big job but with three seperate layers (all of which will be rounded to be convex once I've finished)  to the relief carving it was never going to be a walk in the park. He pushed this point home in his Christmas card, it read 'sorry that you haven't finished your first carving yet, maybe next year or the year after, or the year after that...'. I will get there, I have to I've already put my nae down for a large chunk of cherry wood which will be ready in a couple of years time!