Now I know some of you will not know "The Gruffalo" in the first place, so I will post up a pic of him/her.
It is a childrens story which I never knew of until Nicola introduced me to it a few years ago.
Turns out, as often is the case, that the demand is so great for the story that someone writes a sequel, in this case "The Gruffalo's Child" which is also beautifully illustrated.
Now Rav's kids fell in love with the toy that this child has in the story, which resulted in his flattering message, asking me if I could make something that would be safe etc..... not sure about that, but I would give it a go.
Below pics of the Child with Stick Toy.
As is once again the case, in nature, trees do not grow quite as they come from the artists pen and paints.... so I had looked around near and far for shrubs and trees that would give me branches or twigs in the shape of said toy over the last 4 weeks, from Kent to Hampshire, Oxford and down south to Portsmouth and Southampton on my travels - No Luck.
The closest I got was what shows below.
These have had small recesses cut into them so that they fit together tightly and then wood glued and clamped.
I plan to use some fine copper wire from old telephone wire to create a cross=bound tied up reinforcement on the join.
But of course there is no way these would be any good as toys, note Hotel freebie pen for size perspective.
So "Plan B" was hatched and I took a sheet of paper, drew a basic sketch of the toy and cut it out.
Transfered to some Plywood I had left over from another job, cut to size to fit the transfer.
Cut out on the bandsaw, number one and number two.
Leaving me with these.
A Couple of hours later, I had these, Nicola had made me a sandwich and a coffee, and could post up.
One question remains, "To Stain or not to Stain"
I could use some nice dark brown shed/fence paint to cover them, or I could varnish them with a coat of water based, modern safe clear varnish, or leave them as they are..... which is what Nicola reckons is the right way, so that they can age and show their patina as the kids play with them.
The original in the story is dark sticks, but I guess a bit of poetic license is not a bad thing.
Answers below or on a Post card please.
Ohh, and I hope Rav likes them, as he does not know they have been completed.
