Carousel-Part 20 Flooring continued-photos

I wanted to clarify something I said in my last blog post.  I mentioned that I had  been gluing the flooring on wax paper.  I should be more specific.  I was not gluing the flooring to the wax paper.  I was gluing the pieces of the wood side to side on top of wax paper.  The glue that oozed from between the pieces of flooring was minimal.  With wax paper, it was easy to remove the paper from any spot where the glue had seeped through.  I only had one spot that gave me sticking problems when I lifted the completed floor off the paper.  I cleaned that up using a craft knife.

Anyway, I have completed the flooring.  As you can tell, I was able to obtain some more craft sticks.  In my last blog post I had mentioned that I had run out and had to go purchase more.  Fortunately, the store had one more package in stock. 

The floor has been placed on top of the wooden platform and glued down.  I weighted the floor down with some heavy objects to make sure that I had good adherence.  I left it there for forty-eight hours to make sure that the glue was dry before removing the weights.  My next step will be to cut off the overhanging ends using my Dremel tool and a cutting disk.  I guess I am at one of those anxiety producing points.  If I mess up with the cutting tool, it will be difficult to correct the mistake.  I'll deal with it one way or another, but I really hope that things will go well.

When you look at the photo, you might think that not much has been accomplished.  Actually, quite a bit has been done.  Gluing all those individual pieces of wood took a long time.  It was not a quick process.  I hope to have the platform cut by Wednesday and have the sanding started.  A lot of that will depend on the weather, some rain is forecast for the next couple of days.  I'd rather do this outside to keep the dust down in the studio.  I may be able to work in the downstairs workshop if my husband does not have a project set up on that workbench.   

Carousel Part 19- Creating the Flooring

I digressed from my carousel project on the last blog post because I had not had a chance to work in my studio for the last few days.  I hope my readers enjoyed the quilt.  I'm back in the studio now and happily working on the carousel project.

Creating the wood floor.

This week I am working on the flooring.  As I wrote in last Sunday's blog, I have memories of the floors of some of the carousels I've ridden.  I decided that I would try to recreate the flooring on the carousel rather than just paint the disk.  It will make the carousel look a little more upscale I think.  However, this is one of those cases where I'm not sure how it is going to turn out.  So rather than gluing the flooring to the disk to start with, I decided to lay it out and glue it on wax paper.  It it works out that I can use it, I will glue the floor to the base for the carousel.  At this point, I think I can make it work.

Wooden base on the rotating platform.

To begin, I traced a circle of the disk so I would have the size of the base.  You can see a portion of the paper template in the picture.  Then I started gluing skinny craft sticks together to make wooden strip flooring.  I'm using the craft sticks because they are only 1/4 inch wide.  Anything wider would have looked out of scale on such a small piece.  It is not exactly like putting together a floor.  The strips are "sort of" straight and "sort of" the same thickness.  I've had to pick and choose and chop to get pieces straight enough to use.

I think that once the whole floor is together, I will glue it to the disk.  When the glue is dry, I will use a cutting wheel to cut off the ends that extend beyond the rounded edge.  Then I will sand the whole thing.  After that, it will receive a coat of wood stain and some gloss varnish.  That is the plan at this time, at any rate.  The one hitch is that I am running out of craft sticks.  I'm off to the store for more.  At this point I am going to be really miffed if they are out of stock.  I do have some more bent sticks which I can chop into usable pieces, but it will look somewhat odd given the lengths of the other sticks.  So tune in next time to see if the floor is usable or not.

In My Spare Time I Quilt-Photo

Spare time?  Seriously?  I feel like I don't have spare time anymore.  I used to, and I don't know what happened to it all.  I work on my folk art projects as much as I can during the day.  In the evening, when my husband and I sit down to relax and watch television I work on a quilt.  I like to keep my hands busy even when I'm sitting still.

I have made three quilts that are hand pieced and hand quilted.  I enjoy fiber arts, but like any hobby, it can be expensive.  To get the most for my money, I piece complex patchwork quilts.  All of the little pieces are sewn on one at a time.  It took quite a while to finish this one.

I saw this pattern in a quilting magazine, but it has been several years, and I can no longer remember which one.  The quilt in the magazine was done in russets and browns, as if you might be looking out a window on an autumn afternoon.  I decided that my quilt would look more like a kaleidoscope, where each turn of the cylinder would create a different picture.


Yes, the headboard is very dated.  One of these days I'm going to get around to replacing it.  However, it's solid wood and still in really good shape.

Carousel Memories and My Design Quandary

I have been having conflicting ideas about how to make the structure of the carousel.  Part of the problem is that I have had the pleasure of riding a number of carousels.  The carousels were different styles, and that is giving me a conflict because I am having trouble deciding which way to go with the decorative elements.  As I’ve been working on the menagerie animals for my carousel, a lot of old memories of carousels I have ridden have risen into consciousness.  I’m having trouble deciding which ones I want to represent in this carousel.

One of the carousels I rode when I was very small.  I don’t really remember that one well.  For some reason most of the memories I retain are of being ready to get on the carousel and holding onto the hand of one of my parents.  I remember the arc of the floor of the carousel and the posts that held up the roof.  I barely remember the horses on it, although I have a memory of the bench seat.  I think this carousel was smaller than the other ones I have ridden.

I also rode carousels at seaside amusement parks.  Most of my memories come from these carousels.  The one I remember more fully was a huge carousel.  I think it must have been six horses across.  The interior column was mirrored, and the horses reflected to make it seem twice as large as it was.  As the carousel spun around it also reflected a dizzying scene of the crowds at the amusement park.  I remember real leather reins, worn and cracked with age and exposure to the sea air and leather stirrup straps that had real metal stirrups on them.  

Floors were other memories that have come up.  I remember the small carousel had some type of rough finish to make it non-slip.  I don’t know what it was.  I just remember it being a fairly dark gray.  The large seaside carousel had painted floors.  They were green.  Some years they had been repainted.  Other years they were worn down to patches of bare wood.  Because it was at the shore, people’s shoes had a lot of sand on them and it just ground away at the paint.  I saw this carousel after someone had restored it and moved it to another seaside location.  The floors were beautifully refinished and varnished.  I doubt it stayed that way for long.

At night the carousel at the amusement park was ablaze with lights inside and out.   Panels on the top had lights that flashed around each panel.  These big carousels are such a sensory overload:  The lights, loud organ music, reflections, the motion of horses surging past each other as they went up and down on a crankshaft.  The illusion of being in a horse race as first one horse then the other would appear to be forward.  (As a child, I secretly wished that rather than all the horses going in the same direction that some of them would have been set so that it looked like they were charging at you.  I have no idea why.)  

One other memory is of riding on the carousel and looking out at night to see the lights on the spokes of the Ferris wheel, another ride I always enjoyed.  I can remember being stopped at the top of a huge Ferris wheel at night.  The moon was full, and you could see its light reflecting off the white capped waves as the tide was coming in.  It was really beautiful.  And when I looked in the other direction, I could see the lights and the rotating carousel.

So, I want to incorporate all of these memories want to go into my carousel.  But I can’t.  They conflict.  Even if I could do them, it is way too much detail to put into a one foot diameter carousel.  It is also more work than I would want to do on any folk art piece.  I have to pick and choose.  What is important to me as a memory is not the same as what is needed for a piece of art.

There is another portion to the quandary.  It can be described as “ever was versus never was.”  I have many memories to pick and choose from, but something else keeps coming into my head.  I guess you could say it’s my muse.  The thoughts cross my mind that there is another possibility, a carousel with an open lattice top that won’t obscure the animals I’ve put so much work into.  I can see it in my mind’s eye, a golden lattice supported by columns.  It has a vaguely oriental style.  The image doesn’t want to go away.  I’ll have to sketch it out to see if I can get a better understanding of the image.  If I should choose that, some other decorations have to change.  That’s where I’m stuck at the moment, entertaining the possibility of something new.

 I have some further thoughts to share about the metaphors associated with carousels.  The metaphors are associated with life in general.  Yes, most people get the metaphor that life is like a horse race.  The saying “Grab for the brass ring” comes from carousels that had a brass ring that people used to try to grab as they passed it, risking a tumble as they overbalanced in order to reach it.  For all the effort, the ring was only brass, not gold.  All the risk and effort would only garner you something that was not really worth what it seemed.  And finally, for all the hub bub and hupla, you were only going around in circles.  That really seems a lot like life. 

Carousel-Part 18-Folk Art Cat Completed-Photos

The folk art cat for the carousel is complete, finally!!!  What a week.  It feels as if everything in the known universe was coming between me and finishing this cat.  However, it is complete now, and that's another big milestone in the carousel project.  Now that the animals are complete, I can begin to work on the carousel platform itself.

I decided to leave the saddle as it was painted rather than trying to change it.  Sometimes you can do more damage to something by trying to fix it.  It is not perfect, but perhaps it was the best I could do at that time given all the circumstances.

The cat's face has a big smile.  He doesn't look as real as the giraffe and the camel, but I was going for something campy with this figure. The folk art cat already has the gloss varnish applied.  The glare made it a little more difficult to photograph.

Makes sure to scroll down to see all the pictures.

Carousel-Part 17-More on the Cat-Photos

I'm back in the studio!  I have spent a week immersed in studying for a class.  I have desperately missed my studio time, but I really enjoyed spending some time learning something new.  Sometimes it is worthwhile to change things up in your life a bit.  Studying, the pressure of having to read and write on a deadline, and all the practice for an oral presentation has really changed my routine.  I am back to the studio now with a feeling of renewed enthusiasm for may my work.

This past week I have had little time to get into the studio.  I did manage to sneak in a couple of fifteen minute periods though.  I have done a little painting on the cat, although it is not yet finished.  I painted a checked collar on the cat, but I still want to add some embellishments to it.  Technically, I've finished the saddle, but something seems a bit off.  I may have to revisit that and do some more painting.  (This is what happens when I try to do things in a hurry.)  Part of the face has been blocked in.  I will be working on the face today and hope to finish it by tomorrow.  I also have to paint the pads on the folk art cat's feet.

Once the cat is complete, it will be time to move on to making the carousel.  I'm still going over the details in my mind.  I have two conflicting ideas about what it should look like and have not yet decided which direction I want to choose.