Australian Wood Review – September 2019

http://www.woodreview.com.au 79

Affordable

Insurance

For artists and craftspeople

Public and Product Liability

Insurance to $10 – $20m cover:

Important:an Australian Financial Services Licence, but as a Group Purchasing Victorian Woodworkers Association Inc (VWA) does not hold

to arrange Group or Master Liability Policies for its members. VWA does Body has engaged City Rural Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd (AFSL 237491)

benefits that are reasonably attributable to the group purchasing activity.not receive any form of remuneration (including commission) or other

Contact Meg Allan,

VWA Membership Secretary

2650 Mansfield – Whitfield Rd,

TOLMIE VIC 3723

Tel 03 5776 2178

Email [email protected]

Web http://www.vwa.org.au

1 st Sept 2019 to

1 st Sept 2020

Inclusive of full

membership with the

Victorian Woodworkers

Association Inc

Additional Insurances offered

to VWA members by City

Rural Insurance Brokers:

1. Home & Contents;


2. Home Workshop, equipment
   and contents;


3. Personal Accident and Illness
   Insurance;


4. Commercial Studio or Workshop
   Business Package: To cover
   those Members who operate
   a business away from their
   residence.

For professional and amateur

craftspeople working or teaching from

home, or undertaking markets or craft

demonstrations in public. (Arranged

through City Rural Insurance Brokers

Pty Ltd and AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807

trading as Vero Insurance) $225 for

$10 million cover, and we also offer

an option of $245 for $20 million cover.

Jeff Donne is a professional spoon

carver, treecraft teacher and puppet

maker from the far south coast of

NSW. He runs regular puppet

and spoon carving workshops in

many places, including Sydney,

Canberra and Pambula

NSW. See: http://www.

spoonsmith.com.au

We’re keeping it simple with this

puppet, but you can carve detailed

hands and feet if you wish. I find

that puppets, like illustrations, work

well with simplified features, such as

dots for eyes and a basic hand with

no defined fingers, because they

leave a lot of the storytelling with

the audience.

And now we start breathing life into

the puppet. First we make knee

and elbow joints; there are many

ways to do this, but I find a simple

way is to saw at the elbow and

knees and rejoin with cord glued

into carefully drilled holes. The

same technique can be used for

shoulder joints. To attach legs to

the hip, I drill through the groin

(eyes watering!) and the tops of

legs, and then thread through

leather cordage before knotting

at each end.

You will now be holding a puppet

in your hand, albeit pretty floppy.

To string it you need to screw small

hook eyes into the thigh tops,

hands and head, thread waxed

cotton through these and then

tie to a control bar that you have

made from a forked stick with an

additional cross section attached.

The head string is tied to the

middle of the control bar, the thigh

strings to the forked extremity of

the branch and the hand strings to

the cross section.

And now Pinocchio is ready to

dance! It’s a fine moment; one that

sticks with you for a long time.

If you want to paint the little guy,

I recommend layering watercolours

• which allow the grain to shine
  through – and then finish with
  linseed oil. Remember that linseed
  oil left on a rag can spontaneously
  combust and burn down your shed*.

Which of course we don’t want,

because a certain ill-behaved

puppet would only get the blame.

Photos: Jeff Donne

* Editor’s note: Oily rags should be

soaked in water before drying out

or disposing.

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