The Dentzel Carousel Mechanism

The mechanism for the carousel was donated by the Dentzel family, one of the great names in carousels. The mechanism and center post came from a carousel at Point Pleasant, New Jersey, built in 1909, so 2009 is its one hundredth anniversary.
The gears are made of wood. New gears were fabricated to match the original ones.



The platform is huge. The floor measures 49 feet in diameter. It needed to be rebuilt. New wood was found and purchased in Portland.





The wood on the original apron that finishes the front face of the platform was curved (bent to contour to match the curve of the platform's edge). For the rebuilt platform, wood was cut to shape to follow the curve of the platform. The front piece is standing on the flat edge that attaches to the platform in the photo, with the curved apron edge facing upward.



The center pole is made from a huge tree. The original pole is in great condition and will be used for the new structure. It looks like a mast from an old sailing ship. The finished structure will be 51 feet in height.

The plans shown below are fun to see.

Summer 2009 Visit to the Brass Ring Carousel Studio

The block for the body of a new animal arrived at the studio. This is the beginning stage for all the carved animals.


The progress on our reindeer is slow.


The body is developing some shape. The leg blocks are resting on the lower shelf.


We'll show some photos of other animals in progress below.




The horse below, Kiwi, awaits the first coat of primer.

The baby lamb who will be placed with the Lioness on the carousel is in progress near Taffy the alpaca's head:

The strawberries on the horse below look so real you can almost eat them!


The painting area of the studio is always an exciting place to visit. Each animal gets many coats of paint, beginning with primer. The details come to life even more vividly with the artists' amazing expertise. The cayuse pony, Kalapuya is shown below.


Painting progress on two other horses, Sassie Mae and Lightning are shown below.

Reindeer Progress - May 16

On Saturday, May 16, Dick and I made a visit to the carving studio to check on the progress of our reindeer. We were happy to see that work on the reindeer's body had progressed.

The carver's working cart is shown in the photo below. The reindeer's legs and head are stored on the lower shelf of the cart. The body is resting on its side on the top of the cart. You can see the holes into which the pegs attached to another body part are inserted.



The left side of the body is shown in the photo below. The neck will extend from the left end in this view. The rounded wooden discs have been added to begin the contours for the haunches.

In the photo below, the right side of the body shows how the contour of the haunches has been started. The early stage of the body contour carving can also be seen.

The image below shows a top view of the body. Note the large hole where the carousel pole will pass through the body.

The Amazing Work of the Wood Carvers

Neal is being carved in memory of a cherished family pet who was a rescued greyhound. Photos of the living Neal were used to guide the carver. Neal, pictured above, is in an early stage of carving.

At left, Neal is nearly completed. You can see the fantastic carving of the muscle structure.












Each animal has been created in collaboration with the sponsor family to have special significance. The story that accompanies each animal is heart warming.

Here are some of Neal's details.












The laminated body of each animal is not solid. There is cavity inside the body (see photo below) that can contain a special memento. Neal's collar is included in this carousel animal.

Horses are the most popular carousel animal. Look at the details!

Ballet slippers dangle from the dog's mouth behind the saddle of Kiwi.












Jingle bells are carved into the harness below.

The little elephant will be especially appealing to small children.

Below are some photos of the carvers at work. The carving studio is a buzz of activity on Saturdays. Come and see!

Completed Carousel Animals on Display

We are entranced with the exquisite details of the carved animals. Some of the completed animals are on display at the Brass Ring Carousel Studio, 503 First Avenue West, Albany. We've photographed some of them, with close up shots to show some of the amazing details. Above is a photo of Fredrick the rabbit. Below is a detail of the book he is carrying.

Here are some images of the Honey Bear.

Our granddaughter, Mariah, is ready for a ride on Chinook, the salmon.

Here are some images of Igknighter the dragon.

The Blocks Arrive for our Reindeer

Volunteer wood carvers have been busy for several years crafting the amazing animals based on the sponsors' desires and imaginations. You can view some of the progress at the carousel's web site: http://www.Albanybrassring.com.

After each animal is designed, the wood is ordered. Bass wood from the linden tree is used to carve the animals.

The wood arrives at the carving studio in blocks - for example, a body, neck, head, and 4 leg pieces. The large pieces are laminated blocks of wood that are rough-cut with a band saw to approximate the body parts. These are the "building blocks" that the carvers start with. The blocks for our reindeer arrived in November, 2008.















These photos show the reindeer's blocks ready to start the carving process. The legs have pegs that mount into holes in the reindeer's body. They were put in place for these photos.

The large scale drawings are mounted on the walls of the carving studio, used as guides for the carving process. Here you will see the large rendering of our reindeer, Saami.


The antlers for the reindeer have been a subject of discussion between the head carver and us. Antlers made of wood would be composed on many small pieces melded together to create the curved shape. The joins required would be potential areas for weakness.

Actual antlers would be very strong compared to wood antlers. However, actual antlers may be too sharp to use on the carousel. There is some discussion of using actual antlers as a mold to create resin antlers. Thus began our quest to find reindeer antlers for a model.

Some friends traveled to Alaska last summer, stopping to visit a friend who raised reindeer. Ta da! they brought us a "pair" of antlers. Reindeer drop their antlers every year, but the pair don't drop simultaneously. The goal is to find two antlers that look like they "match."

In December, we took the antlers to the carving studio to see how they might compare in size to the drawing. It was absolutely amazing - what a match. In the photo below, one of the carvers is holding up one of the antlers to the drawing to show the close match in size.

We're Sponsoring a Carousel Animal

The Brass Ring Carousel:
The city of Albany, Oregon is building a carousel that will include a total of 52 carved animals divided into three rings. The animals in the outer ring are called "standers" - they don't move up and down. The animals in the middle and inner ring will move up and down. They are called "jumpers."

This is going to be a very large carousel, much larger than the Salem, Oregon carousel.

Last January, 2008, we (Dick and Nancy) decided to sponsor an animal for the Brass Ring Carousel. We selected the middle ring location. To celebrate our Scandinavian heritage, we chose a Lapland reindeer. We met with the carousel staff who wanted us to provide visual images and symbols to represent our family. We asked our grand daughter, Mariah, to choose a symbol she would like to include on the reindeer. She chose the red and white woven Danish heart.

Dick requested a gnome smoking a long pipe. The Danes call the gnome a Nisseman. Dick had a pipe from his grand father that he loaned the artist, Kurt Christensen, for reference. We researched reindeer bodies, harnesses and antlers. Both family names of our grandparents - Salovaara and Splidsboel will be carved on the harness. The Danish crest will be located on the Splidsboel side of the harness and the Finnish crest will be located on the Salovaara side of the harness.

The artist, Kurt, drew the reindeer based on our input. The artist's drawings are used extensively by the carvers as they work. In spring, 2008 we signed approval of the drawings. We were on our way.

Two Danish heart symbols can be seen at the lower edge of the harness in the left photo. In the photo above left, the drawing of the Nisseman can be seen. In the photo at right above, the Nisseman is shown as it will be located behind the reindeer's harness.