Carousel Horse Weather Vane

The Carousel Horse weathervane is a new weathervane design about which we are particularly excited.

It was commissioned to go atop the Silver Beach Carousel Society’s new Carousel in St. Joseph, Michigan. While it can be made as an all copper weathervane (see drawing), we are adding optional gold leaf and palladium leaf to make it truly extraordinary (see drawing).

The horse has translucent glass jewels for its eyes and in its armor. I’ve enclosed several photos of this weathervane as it was being made so you can get a feel for the artistry that goes into such a weathervane’s construction. When the gilding is done I will post some more photos.

Because of the complexity of this project, two of our senior journeyman weathervane makers worked on the Carousel Horse's construction. Here is a photo of Victor shaping one of the horse's legs.

Here are the two halves of the horse's head. The hand shaping of a weathervane is where a true master of the craft can showcase his or her skills. All this shaping is done with rawhide hammers over oak posts. No molds are used. Because of this, no two weathervanes, even when made by the same craftsman, will ever be exactly alike.

Thomas had the task of making the horse's armor. Here you can see several of the pieces he has completed. There are individual glass jewels of different colors ornamenting the armor.

In this photo, Thomas is fitting pieces of armor to the horse's body. In this photo you can see the different colored glass jewels more clearly.

This final photo in the sequence shows Thomas and Victor with the completed carousel horse weathervane. The next step will be to polish it  and start adding the gold and palladium leaf. I'll be sure and post photos once that process is completed.