The Carousel

This Carousel was designed by Jackie Nichols and adapted from her book "A Carousel Ride" It measures 20" in diameter with most of the horses being approximately 6"; and was completed in 1994 after 4 months of daily work with $500.00 worth of stained glass, gems, bevels and brass. It was a Christmas gift for my parents that year. After my father's death, it came home to me needing repairs. It was too painful for me to work on it again until now. I will be updating this page as the reconstruction progresses.

The small photos are from 1994 and MANY digital cameras ago . . .

Two horses cut, ground and partially foiled.

Two Charles Carmel horses foiled with decorative wire trim. They are ready to be pinned and soldered.

The internal framework of the carousel.Closeup of a "Merhorse" or Hippocampus--is a combination of a horse and a fish . It was designed from an Original in a private collection created between 1900-1905. They are very rare and and fewer than 5 by each carver exist.

Another Closeup---note the wire loop detail. This horse is designed to represent the work of Charles Carmel who was noted for his tasseled Arabians. The original was created in 1911 and is in Forest Park, Ft. Worth, Texas.

More Closeups--The white horse to the left is patterned after a Looff horse created in 1912, currently on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, CA.

The black horse was patterned after a Muller design. He was known for his realistic poses and for positioning the eyes to look back at the rider. The original horse was created in 1917 and resides at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio.

The carousel as it was returned. Note the bent and broken bars in the front along with the missing glass oval accents in front. Bear in mind that these pieces were soldered on. I can only surmise that some small child was allowed to hang on the front of carousel after my Dad passed away causing this extent of damage as he kept it in pristine condition. Every one of the gems have also been removed from the horses. Again, these were either soldered or securely glued and were picked off. I am hoping to begin the extensive repairs soon.

The Carousel Repairs Begin

August 10, 2010

This is the lamp lid part of the carousel. Fortunately, it was not damaged.

Repairing one of the inner supports.

De-soldering the horses. This is the lead horse--note the shield with my initials K.S. on it.

Repairing the outer supports. Every one had been broken. The horses were actually helping hold the framework together. What a way to treat a piece of art. :(

Re-soldering a support to the top of the framework. See the music box? It is is hidden from view when the lid is replaced. :)

This large support was literally ripped off. Note how it has a small inner suport inside the brass tube. Remember,this WAS all soldered together.

Sliding the brass tube back onto the smaller tube. This will then be soldered again.

Here's the internal framework of the carousel as seen from the top. It is made entirely of brass. The top lights up and the music box can be wound and plays Carousel Waltz.

My favorite horse getting a bath. He is the first horse leading the others. All of the gems had been picked off the horses. Each horse had between 6-10 gems. They are all gone. :( I ordered new gems yesterday and will be fixing each of the horses.

The Carousel Repairs Continue

August 11, 2010

Note the white "crud" oxidation. I want to get rid of all of that.

I read on the Internet that Ammonia removed the crud. Here's the merhorse getting an ammonia bath. I used an old toothbrush to scrub the bad areas and it worked like a charm. Then the pieces were rinsed in clear water, washed with Dawn and rinsed again.

The broken off ovals had to be totally refoiled. Here they are, ready to be soldered.

My gems came today. Yea!! Kaitlin sorted them them for me. We were both glad that there were a lot of pink ones!! Thanks for sorting them Kaitlin.

Tinning some twisted wire. Since I'm redoing so much of the carousel, I decided to add some wire accents to the horses.

Tinning the ovals. These then get attached to the top of the carousel (hopefully tomorrow).

Close of of the lead horse's shield. Previously, I had my initials painted on but decided to redo them in wire which will hopefully last a LONG time. I need to clean off the flux and then remove the paint underneath.

My favorite lead horse with new gems glued on and restored to his former glory.

The afghan hound that will go on the carousel. I forgot to do the tail curl out of wire yesterday. I've added some gems too. This one is my original design.

The merhorse with gems back on. I forgot to add some additional solder to his mouth, so need to do that little touch-up tomorrow.