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This was the first carousel figure hobbyist Carolyn Caverty restored. Purchased at auction in San Francisco, it's an Alan Hirschel model manufactured in 1920.
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Hobbyist Carolyn Caverty offers a few interesting facts about carousel figures: - American carousels revolve counterclockwise; English ones revolve clockwise. This makes the positioning and features of carousel figures different.
- Each figure can take up to 80 pieces of wood to construct.
- Carousel figures can be purchased for a few hundred dollars -- or a few hundred thousand.
- Most people think of carousel figures as only being horses, but in fact they can include a menagerie of different animals (lions and cats are popular figures).
- Caverty, who carves original figures in addition to her restoration work, says that all the pieces must first be carved and then put together. Each piece is completed from the ground up: the legs are carved first, then the body and finally the head and neck. Caverty can spend as much as 200 hours carving and finishing one carousel figure!
RESOURCES :
National Carousel Association
P.O. Box 4333
Evansville, IN 47724-0333
Web site: www.carousel.org
American Carousel Society
3845 Telegraph Rd.
Elkton, MD 21921-2442
Web site: www.carousel.org/acs
Carousel Horses: A Photographic Celebration
Model: 0762408472
Author: Sherrell S. Anderson
Carousel Animal Carving : Patterns & Techniques
Model: 0806903058
Author: Bud Ellise, et al
Carousel Art
Model: 0939549220
The Great American Carousel : A Century of Master Craftsmanship
Model: 0811806340
Author: Tobin Fraley, et al
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