I have been wanting to add a weekly process feature to “Whither Will I Wander” for a long time … sharing traditions of woodworking, toy making, and of old and perhaps forgotten artistry .
Hope you enjoy today’s post sharing a still living history of the the handmade wooden toy in three far away workshops….
How lush and green it is outside ….
a rainy and joyful weekend … I am clearing the workbench for tomorrow’s work .
… here are some glimpses of projects now in progress …. that I look forward to sharing in the coming week….
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Hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend where ever you are.
Even toys need to play …
There is so much to love about toymaking (and toys!)
I think toys -at the very heart- live quite a busy life even while they are at rest. So many stories have been written just about this – a toy’s hidden, private life- for a reason.
I am amazed how even when making the simplest toy, a little plaything can be so expressive and possess their own irrepressible, quirky nature.
I’d like to introduce you to some of my newest friends: roaring picture book lions . Big-hearted, wooden lions with movable, little heads.
I could some how imagine these little lions stepping out of a child’s storybook just so they could be in the the palm of your hand to purr, tell their secrets (and roar!) to their hearts content.
Wishing you a bit of whimsy and childhood joy today! : )
March has been such a very nice month …a few things have resolved …. and how good it is to be moving ever closer to Spring!
I received word about a week ago that my little folky bird was sitting on the March new stand!
Quail with a heart is a happy but shy bird by nature and was the first in my fanciful flock series -a collection of folk art push toys. She is letter Q in an A to Z directory in this month’s issue (March 2010 ) of Pregnancy & Newborn (pnmag.com). Thank you so much P&N!!
Toymaking is a way of giving life to the cherished plaything. Kind of an honorable old profession that brought with it a great excitement as birthdays and holidays do for children. Somehow, I hold an image of far away days of workshops and kitchen tables in many close and distant lands where love and imagination crafted and shaped a wonderful plaything. I remember a a special little red and spotted-white strawberry spinning top I had… though a little thing, I thought it might be one of the neatest things I ever saw and missed it when it went lost.
Now taking this a step further, to take a thought or idea (and all it’s little nuances) and with hand, tools, materials, color and intuition to form something you can touch -especially something with its own life such as wood and fiber – wow!
For me, whether making a toy for a child (or the child in us) or something for all that just captures the heart, that is the desire of Prettydreamer!
Thank you for visiting!
