Early November Visit

The studio is open on Wednesday afternoons. Our grand daughter, Mariah, and I have begun to visit the studio after school on Wednesdays. Today we saw that some progress had been made on our reindeer.

In this photo, the neck is in the foreground and the body is laying on its side. You can see the contour of the haunches taking shape.

Seen from the rear, looking toward the neck, you can see another view of the contour of the haunches.


Turning the reindeer over to see the other side of the reindeer, the block is in place to form the back haunch



and the front haunch is farther along in the contouring process:



Here's the progress on Daisy the little elephant:


A griffin named Sir Hugo Page is taking shape:


Here's the drawing of what Sir Hugo page will look like:



Here's one of the ponies being carved:

A close up shows the detail on the pony's head. There's an awesome braid in the pony's mane.


We checked out the painting progress on one of the horses, named Kalapuya:

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.