Other Work from My Grandfather

As promised, I am posting pictures of other pieces my grandfather made.  The first one is a sleigh.  He made several wagons, three I think, but only one sleigh.  It belongs to my sister and was specifically made for her by our Grandpa.  I had refinished and repainted the wood, as well as made new leather straps that go from the wagon to the harness.  But I did not remake the harness itself.  I like the way the harness turned out for my cousin's wagon.  I have enough calf's leather to make harnesses for my wagon and my sister's sleigh.  When I have time, I will remake those later.




The next two pictures are of the house my grandfather made.  My understanding is that it is a stylized replica of the home in which my grandfather grew up.  He actually made two of these, if you can believe it!  One remains in our family.  The other, my grandfather reportedly donated to the Lithuanian language newspaper that had been published in Chicago.  After the newspaper shut down it was supposed to be transferred to the Lithuanian National Museum in Lamont, IL for display.  However, our family believes that it is now lost, since it is not on display, and no one knows what happened to it.  We (or more accurately, my cousin, who's wagon I refurbished) are looking into locating it.  If we ever do, I think we'll try to either get it to the museum, or try to reacquire it. 

What always fascinated me were the inappropriately sized lawn ornaments he carved to go with the house.  Growing up, it was my job to dust and clean the house, lawn ornaments, and picket fence.  What a chore that was!  You can bet that I'll be finding an acrylic display box to enclose the house and other items sometime soon.  Thankfully, the house does not need any repairs or refinishing. 

 My grandfather was talented, no doubt about that.  I hope everyone who sees his work here appreciates the skill he displayed.  Thank you for following my adventure in refurbishing one of his pieces.

Finished!!!

I finally got around to making the harness.  I modeled it after several real harnesses for wagons, but clearly, it is not a reproduction in every detail.  It merely has elements that invoke several harness types.  Here's a close up of my handiwork.

I used some of my wife's beading finishings to make the attachments from the harness to the rest of the wagon.  I added two rings to the top of the harness to run the reins through.  I really like the effect of the silver rings and crabclaw clips.  It isn't a harness unless there are metal rings and clips.

Now for a shot of the whole wagon with horse, completed.  I may still make a seat cushion for the back seat.  But it may have to wait a while.

One More Item To Go

I have it nearly done now.  All I have to do is make a new harness.  My local shoe repair guy had a scrap of black calf's leather.  VERY NICE.  Also it's thin and will drape well on the plastic horse and be easy to stitch together.  My shoe repair guy tells me it should stay supple for a very long time.  Still, I will treat it with saddle oil to infuse it and help it age well.  I have a picture of a horse's harness for a wagon.  Of course I cannot make one that is as detailed or true-to-life.  I will have to "cheat" to keep it simple, but still get the essence of it.  I should be able to get the critical elements right without too much trouble.  If I am happy with it, I have enough leather to remake mine in a similar fashion.

My son tells me I have another trophy in the craft skills...he plays a lot of video games, can you tell?  This has been a wonderful adventure so far.  I cannot wait for it to be complete so I can post a picture of the refurbished wagon on this blog. The only problem I could not resolve to my satisfaction so far is one of the front wheels is not as round as I would hope.  The splice has an outward deformation that was inherent in the bamboo.  Even reforming it several times didn't cure it.  It kept reverting back to it's old shape.  The "bump" is small, but a permanent part of the wheel.  At least the brass bands are firmly in place and will keep them all from deforming more or the splices from coming undone over time.  If this is the worst issue, I can live with it.  I know I did what I could to correct it.