TENNESSEE VALLEY WOODWORKERS

 

   SPLINTERS                                                                             MAY. 1994

 

The merry month of May!! Yes it’s prom time all over again with all of those intense anxieties, we’re all consumed with who is taking whom to the prom. For all of those inquiring minds, we’ve got an early scoop from “highly reliable sources”   Bob E. is taking Jim V. this year. Remember.. .you heard it first here in “SPLINTERS”. Now for a little lighter news.

 

·   Woman likes a man best who has his own will—made out in her name

·   Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.

·   Classified add in the Knoxville Journal: “Used tombstone for sale. Ideal for a family named Campbell”

·   They used to say that the cheapest way to have your family tree traced was to run for public office... That is unless you’re from Arkansas . . .where everyone has the same family tree.

 

 

MAY MONTHLY MEETING

Keep an eye on that calendar! The third Tuesday can sneak up on you! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening May 17 at 7:00 P.M.

Eugene Lawson promises to be there with his saw collection ... last time involved unexpected visitors and lost phone numbers .... that’s the short version. Be there!!

This should be a sharp program, something you can set your teeth into, say you saw the saws.

 

SUCCESSFUL SPRING SEMINAR

We’ve been getting lots of excellent reports about our Spring seminar. Approximately 22 people attended. We’re looking forward to hearing more about this fine event at the next meeting. Thanks to all demonstrators, participants, cooks and certainly the Eubanks for graciously hosting.

 

Carving Their Niche

Curled woodchips crunch underfoot as Bud Ellis leads an impromptu tour through Horsin’ Around, his carousel carving school in Chatta­nooga. A fantasia of wooden animals—an os­trich, bloodhound, rab­bit, lion, giraffe, fish, and a herd of horses— all big enough to strad­dle and ride, stand in various stages of ‘emerging” from soft basswood. Some are mere outlines sketched

on rough blocks of wood. Others are scattered parts—heads over here, legs over there, partially formed ears and knees and nostrils evident. A few are nearly complete, their prancing positions forever fixed, playfully bright paints drying. With calloused fingers, Ellis gently touches or points to each project, identifying it with a brief comment about its creator.

 

“This horse is being carved by a fifth grade teacher, this one by a truck driver,” he says. “A guy who runs a sheet metal shop is working on that horse, a 61-year-old socialite the next. The lion is by a computer operator. The ~ dog is a cake decora­tor’s. The rabbit is by an airplane mechanic who ~ plans to start a pig next. ‘Fhe giraffe is my wife’s.”

Such is the menagerie—both of carvings and the people behind them—at Horsin’ Around, a ware­house-sized workshop where dreams come true. Among the many others who squeeze in carving time, there are a nurse, a band director (Kyle Howard, shown above), a surgeon, a therapist, a banker, and a policeman.

Ellis, a 57-year-old high school art teacher, became interested decades

ago in antique carousel figures, the kind he rode as a child. Like other carousel fans, he was drawn to works by the legendary Dentzels, a family of German-American carvers whose last workshop closed in 1929. Original Dentzel pieces, restored or other­wise, command high prices among collectors, higher than he could afford on a teacher’s pay. So he set out to carve his own.

He visited wood-carvers who ight shed light on the Dentzels’ process. He restored antique pieces for collectors, practiced carving ev­ery chance he got, and gradually

pieced together the needed tech­niques. Envisioning a revival in carou­sel carving, and with help from his wife, Johnnie, and his son, Chris, he opened Horsin’ Around.

More than 50 fellow carousel en­thusiasts now study under Ellis to learn skills he .has spent most of his adult life acquiring. All share a fond­ness for old-time carousels, most are unable to afford the antiques they ad­mire, so they carve their own. Some spend months of evenings and week­ends in the wQrkshop, tapping chisels with wooden mallets, slowly coaxing their fantasies from the wood. Others bend to the task during a solid two weeks of vacation. Ellis even ar­ranges a form of financial aid. A bene­factor pays a student carver’s tuition ($550 to $1,050), then keeps the fin­ished piece, allowing the student to learn at no cost.

“We try to do everything the old way, to re-create the craftsmanship that made those old pieces so valu­able,” Ellis says. “The parts are held together with wooden pegs and glue, not nails. Paint is applied with stencil

brushes, not airbrushes, to produce a richer texture.” When students are carving, Ellis strolls the room, an­swering questions, demonstrating the use of tools, making suggestions. His perennial optimism shores up any flagging enthusiasm.

Visitors are welcome to drop by, look around, talk with carvers, and recall their own childhood memories of colorful carousels. Those smitter. with a need to create their own can sign up for classes. Joe Radii

 

Horsin’ Around lies 1½ miles south of 1-24 in downtown Chattanooga. Follow signs to Lookout Mountain In­cline Railway, and look for carousel animals in the upstairs windows of a gray warehouse nearby, between Tennessee Avenue and St. Elmo Avenue. Visitors are welcome from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Groups are asked to ar­range visits so as not to disrupt instructions. For more information write Horsin’ Around, 3804 St. Elmo Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37409; call (615) 825-5616.