The past week I've been busily and happily filing, sanding, painting and beeswaxing! I really LOVE woodworking! I cut all of these wooden toys last fall with my father-in-law's tools in NY on our northern adventure. I got a little carried away with the cutting and could never have finished them all for Christmas.
This time, since I wasn't making them specifically for presents and since my little Michael told me had peeked at what I had cut anyway, I let him help me work on them.
Michael's been working on sanding our Papa bear.
I made our tree a bright green Spring tree with pink blossoms. I made a little being, not sure what to call her. Is she a gnome? That doesn't seem right. She isn't a fairy. Not exactly a root child. What would you call her? She has wood-burned tulips on both sides. I asked Michael what color I should paint her and he said rainbow color. I thought that was a fantastic idea and I love how she came out. Maybe we could call her a "rainbow spirit"!?
I'm seriously obsessed with toadstools! So I had to make another. (and I have still another on the way!) Can anyone have too many toadstools?
I made a puzzle, play cave. One of the sections broke on the plane on the way home so I had to glue it together. It's not terribly noticeable, I suppose. Another flame puzzle is in progress as well. I love how these puzzles can be played with in so many different ways. As a puzzle, arches, hills, a cave, a stream or river (if you lay the largest one down flat) as many ways as the imagination can come up with.
Our owl and raccoon in progress. I don't like how the owl has come out. All the other animals are less cartoon-y than he is. He doesn't seem to fit the style.
I may sand his face off and paint instead of wood-burn him. I'm not sure yet.
Some evergreens for the Winter season.
And another tree- this one will be a fall tree, so we'll have a tree for every season. There's also a toadstool and another gnome/spirit.
It's so satisfying to make these toys. There are so many lovely etsy and other natural toy shops out there to buy from. Had I the budget to do that I probably would have bought from them. However, our budget doesn't allow and I'm so glad of it because we've been able to have this incredible experience of making them ourselves! (and saved a boat-load of money doing so!)We appreciate them so much because of the fun and rewarding experience of making them.
Until next time...
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Your rainbow-cloaked figure makes me think of the Babushka Baba Yaga in Patricia Polacco's book by that title.
ReplyDeleteThey turned out really great! Love the rainbowspirit and cave. I feel so inspired to find somebody with tools that I can borrow and try it out too! The owl looks fine to me btw..
ReplyDeleteI really don't believe that anyone can have too many toadstools! I draw them and add them to as many things as I can. I love your work, and like Kim said, I feel so inspired to get out there and use our tools to make magical things for my children. Keep being inspirational!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful and so inspiring! Did you do all that with a dremel tool? I love your forest spirit, she is perfect no matter what you call her.
ReplyDeleteyou are so good at this! i still need to find a saw to use. maybe this summer. i love your rainbow sprite. no way one can have too many mushrooms! this one is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteoooh, I'll have to check out Babushka Baba Yaga book. Sounds really good. Thank you so much for all your kind comments!
ReplyDeleteSeeds, I used my Father-in-law's scroll saw to cut them out. I used the dremel to smooth out the very rough sometimes ridged edges. I also used it to shape them. From there I filed, and sanded. I've also found that after painting I like to use a buffing sand paper to smooth them even more.
i am inspired as well! do u have a wood burning tool to do the black outlines? what kind of paint do u use?
ReplyDeleteI am so inspired by your beautiful toys- you are a wonderful artist- I am wondering what you use for paint, and do you use a beeswax finish? I would love to gather supplies to make some of these for my home. I really enjoy your blog! Thanks- April
ReplyDeleteYes, I use a wood0burning tool for the outlines. I'm using tube watercolor paint, then I buff that using buffing sand paper and then beeswax. I made my own beeswax.
ReplyDeleteThere's a recipe on Wee Folk Art, http://weefolkart.com/content/building-blocks-part-3-finishing-wood as well as
Beneath the Rowan Tree blog. http://beneaththerowantree.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-make-your-own-beeswax-wood.html
Thanks for all your comments!
Just lovely, I can smell the wood from here, cheers Marie
ReplyDeleteOh, these are JUST the very sort of things that I hope to soon be making. The scroll saw has been sitting in its box for months. Unopened. But with any luck (and a healthy dash of time), it will get set up. Your work is such an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteNow, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have too many toadstools. And that rainbow sprite is GORGEOUS. And the trees and animals. SO very wonderful.
These are gorgeous! You can tell so much love goes into making them. My husband has made a few wooden animals for my daughter, but he wasn't able to achieve the nice "carved" look you have (I suppose that is where the file comes in?) I would love to see a "tutorial" of sorts (in progress...this is how it looks after the dremel, now the file, etc.) I also think that by making things ourselves, we are teaching our children we don't always need to buy, ya know.
ReplyDeleteTanya, yes, that's especially what I love about making them ourselves.
ReplyDeleteA tutorial is a great idea! I'll do that.
Becca
What lovely creations. I just signed up to follow your blog. You inspire me!
ReplyDeleteSo wonderful! My husband and I always wish we had the tools to do this kind of creating. I especially love your trees!!!
ReplyDelete