Speaker | Artisan Blacksmith | Beekeeper
Before you know it we have reached twelfth night and the completion of my charging elephant.
Reality of course is that it has actually taken me about 9 months of on and off work to complete.
The final finishing element has been the tusks. They are made from antler, sourced from a National Trust deer park, where they take the naturally shed antlers and sell them to a walking stick maker. I had the tips of a couple of the antler spurs, too small for use by the stick maker.
Day 4. Christmas is now a distant memory. For those less able to plan, or curb the excesses, the fear of the looming credit card bill is growing.
The elephant meanwhile is beginning to look the part. In many ways this is the most difficult part. If the legs, ears, trunk, head etc are in the wrong place then there is no way back. I am quite happy that all is ‘dimensionally right’ with this elephant. In case you are interested, it is an African elephant and so has large ears.
Before you know it, the 12 days if Christmas moves on to the re-heated lunch excitement of day 2. The sales are on and everyone is wondering just why they bought all that food.
Back to the elephant. The first job is to remove the large chunks of wood to create the broad elephant shape. I may not be convincing you yet, but wait, it will all become clear.
