FYI we have a resident Artist...many of you know him as
DAD of Madi!!
Raise your hand if you remember when wooden purses were IN?
Evidently Mom does (remember she is older than dirt). Are you ready here we go.....
When Mom was 19 (~1968 aka Stone age), she worked part time in a fancy clothing store. The wooden purses were very popular. She and my Dad had just started dating. Often she mentioned to him how much she admired the purses. Well Dad started to secretly investigate the wooden purses because he wanted my Mom to have one. After careful consideration, Dad concluded that he could make one for her. He worked on it for a very long time. Finally the time came to give it to my Mom. As I've mentioned, many times Mom is a squealer and I'm pretty sure she S Q U E A L E D long and loud when she saw this beautiful wooden purse made with love and care just for her. Dad bought the unfinished purses at a hobby/art shop. He hand drew each of the butterflies on the purse, painted them in their authentic colors,
painted the edges of the purse,note the itty bitty tiny orange line in between the yellow and brown. The brown semi-circles were made by tracing 1/2 of a penny
After all the painting was complete he put several coats of lacquer on the purse to perserve the drawings and the paint. Here it is 48 years later and the purse looks nearly perfect.Mom said she was so afraid she would dent it she only used it on Sunday. It has been stored with tender love and care over the years.
If you enlarge the pictures, you might see that each butterfly has tiny jewels on its wings that sparkle. The name of each butterfly is also either above or below the drawing.
Now Dad uses his artistic skills to build
TRAINS
HERE HE IS SAWING A PIECE OF BRASS
HE WILL USE THE SMALL PIECE TO MAKE
A PART
FOR A TRAIN LIKE THIS....
HE SOLDERS ON PARTS AND PIECES
ON TO PLAIN TRAINS TURNING THEM IN TO
BEAUTIES LIKE THIS
MY DAD IS A GENIUS AT THIS TOO...BUT
HE IS ALSO A PERFECTIONIST...SO IT TAKES
TIME AND PATIENCE