Many people have asked about how I go about carving carousel animals. It's a process that takes a concentrated 2 weeks of work for my 16-18" pieces. As you may know carousel menageries include every imaginable animal. The common ones are, of course, the horse in a standing and jumping position. But also found on carousels are pigs, rabbits, lions, tigers, dogs, chickens, osteriches, giraffes, sheep and goats.

They will all be embellished with traditional carousel trappings such as saddle and bridle for riding, various colors, decorative work, jewels and other accessories. My favorite carousel carver was Daniel Muller (1872-1951) and I have modeled much of my work after his. All my designs are original and no two animals are alike, but the basic style and form closely imitate the tradtional carousel animals. As you can see my finished pieces are carefully worked to be very lifelike.

I start with lindenwood, also known as basswood, from the northeast United States. The wood comes in 4" X 6" pieces. The rough design is cut from this wood with a band saw. The body, head, legs and tail are all cut from different pieces of lumber. After these separate parts are chiseled into a rough form, they are glued together with dowels. Then the fine carving begins. After the carving has reached it's intended result, the figure is sanded.

We use the finest, translucent and color-fast stains to color the animal. This allows the beauty of the wood grain to show through. The final coat is a high quality lacquer that is sprayed on. We recommend using lemon oil to clean and polish the pieces.

For more information about carousels and Daniel Muller click these links.