Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Warther's Woodcarving Museum

PSA.... PSA... JAZZI CALLED ME YESTERDAY.. AND DUE TO THE STORMS THAT HAVE EFFECTED ALL OF OUR FURENDS IN ILLINOIS... LIKE PIP AND SUGAR.. JAZZI WON'T BE ABLE TO BLOG FOR A DAY OR SO MORE... SHE HAS NO ELECTRICALS... which means no internets. Jazzi says she is SAFE butt very HOT.. she and her Mom slept outside on their porch swing night before last.. just to keep cool. There are soooooo many without power in that whole region that it may be DAYS before we hear from our furends.

OKAY... you can Google Warther Woodcarving Museum fur more Info about this Amazing man. He was a Steelmill worker.. with only a Second Grade Education... NO formal training in Mathmatics and YET he Carved things to PERFECT 1/2 inch=1 foot Scale! This first pic is a closeup of the Train Car that is a replaca of the Train that Carried Pres. Abraham Lincoln home to Illinois after he was assinated. You can see his head "through the window" of the car.
This is the car.. see how he carved the Bunting and Tassles on the Outside of the car?

THIS particular Train is carved from Ebony and Ivory. you can see the TINY "rivets" that are ivory. The "Shiny" looking "Bar" in the middle is carved Mother of Pearl. Look at all the PERFECT details. THE Wheels ACTUALLY Turn..






This is the Engine of Mr. Warther's Favorite Train. It is truly amazing!! Again Ivory and Ebony.



Mr. Warther's "Calling Card" was wooden PLIERS.. that he would make ALL FROM ONE SOLID PIECE OF WOOD.. WITH NO LOSS OF ANY OF THE ORIGINAL WOOD... NO SHAVINGS, IN OTHER WORDS. THIS IS HIS FAMOUS PLIER "TREE" THAT WAS ON DISPLAY AT THE CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR. MR. RIPLEY (BELIEVE IT OR NOT GUY) WANTED TO BUY IT... BUTT MR. WARTHER NEVER EVER SOLD A SINGLE THINGY THAT HE CARVED. IT WAS HIS HOBBY!!! He carved this thingy to display the plier tree.. look at all the "bricks" and stuffs that are there.


This is one of several several DeWitt Clinton steam engines that he carved. Mr. Warther sort of PRACTICED on several of them.




This train is carved TOTALLY from Ivory... you can see the other side of the engine and "coal car" in their reflection. Every piece of Coal.. which is actually Ivory... are individually carved and held in place with a special type of "glue' stuff.



When Mr. Warther furst started carving.. he would take the beef bones from his wife's soup pot and use that fur anything "WHITE".. he later replaced the Bone with Ivory. You can see some of the types of ivory that he used... elephant tusks.. of course.. butt also Narwal, Hippo and other sources. He refused to use any Elephant tusks that were NOT Dark... which means that the elephant died of natural causes. THIS train is ALL ivory and it is on an Ebony Bridge. to make it look like Bricks.. he inlayed it with teeeeeeny pieces of Ivory.




Look at the DETAIL.. Even the engineer!!


Here is another example of his PLIERS... this was all made from ONE SOLID piece of wood.. and again... not a single splinter of wood was.. Lost from his carving techniques. EVERY SINGLE one of these.. attached Pliers.. DOES OPEN AND CLOSE!!!!

I hope you find this a facinating as I do. I have been to this museum many times and LOVE it MORE each time. The man was a genius! Painters are a dime a dozen.. when you compare their works of ART to this man's. He Carved his Last Train when he was in his 80's.


Please remember our furends that were effected by this LATEST series of Storms.

Tomorrow... will be my furend Alan Cottrill's Sculpture. You can google HIM also.



















31 comments:

Mack said...

We are sending tons of good vibes to those affected by this crummy weather!
PS: That dude is really talented!

Scooter said...

Hey Frankie!
Wow, I heard all about that pawesome carving museum from my peeps! They had a really great time visiting there and the pix of the carvings are amazing. Sending cool vibes to our furiends!
Grr and Woof,
Sarge, COP

Charlotte said...

Wow...waht a pawsome museum, Frankie!! Thanks for posting about it..

Hoping everyone affected by the electricals soon has their powered up and runnin'!

(((Hugs)) your friends
Oskar, Schatzi & Xena

Unknown said...

Those carvings are unbeeleevable Frankie. Did they say an approximate time it would takes him to carve one of them trains? Furever, I should think.


Hope Jazzi and peeps get the electrical back soon.....no power to the snow locker this time of year is brutal.

Road Dog Tales said...

OMD! Those carvings are - well, "amazing" doesn't begin to describe them! This guy was brilliant - and we don't use that word loosely. Thanks for sharing these with us!

Oh my - we're so bummed about out furiends in the bad weather! Hope sunny skies are headed their way soon!

The Road Dogs

Remington said...

Awesome post! Hope Jazzi gets her power back on soon....I don't know about all these crazy storms! Scary!

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Amazing carvings - oh, to be so talented. Just think of the hours of work he must have done.

We had some bad storms here overnight but thankfully we have our power. We feel very badly for those who have to suffer through this heat with no a/c or fans - just awful.

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

rottrover said...

Thanks fur keepin' us posted on our furiends, Frankie!! That museum is fasinating. Never seen anything like it! What an amazing guy!

Stay cool,

-Gizmo, Bart and Ruby

Remi said...

Whew! What patience and dedication that guy must've had!

SASS....Sammy Andy Shelly Sierra said...

We are purraying for all our friends in storm hit Illinois.

We send our love to them and to you, sweet Frankie.

houndstooth said...

How fascinating! I love art and history and that is just so impressive! I wonder how long it took him to do his carvings. He must have been a fun man to sit down to talk with, I bet! Thanks for sharing something so cool from near where you live. I felt like I was there with you!

Bunny

Two French Bulldogs said...

One cool museum Frankie. Hope all those storms are gone
Benny & Lily

sprinkles said...

Wow, those were amazing! That guy has a lot more talent and patience that I do! I'd love to go see that museum in person sometime.

Mayzie said...

WOW! That is super amazing! Gosh, he was awfully talented AND he had a whole lotta patience. I wonder how much time it took him to carve one of those trains? Thanks for sharing that with us!

And my paws are double-crossed for all our furends who got affected by the storms.

Wiggles & Wags,
Mayzie

Corbin said...

Paws are crossed for all of our friends who are having trouble bc of the storms! But those carvings are super super awesome! So glad you shared with us :o)
-Corbin

Sweet William The Scot said...

Oh, I have been to that museum. Everything is carved to scale. Even the tiny lock on the Lincoln train door. Mrs. Warther has a zillion or more button collection also.
I bought a set of Warthers Knives.
Sweet William The Scot

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

What an amazing talent. Thanks for showing us all his work. Just incredible.

If you hear from our friends..tell them we're sorry they have no electricals and that we hope it gets repaired very soon.

XXXOOO Daisy, kendra & Bella

Alasandra, The Cats and Dogs said...

Oh, those carvings are pawsome!!! Thanks for showing them to us.

The flower growing up the chain in our post is called a Black-eyed Susan Vine. Mommy grew it from seeds. This is the first time we have grown one and it was fairly easy to grow.

Backcountry Brodie said...

It do be so amazing wot talents some has. I tried to pawfect my woodworking talents and had started several pieces with my teefs when I woz a yungun but mom went and squelched my efforts so nuttin efur commed of it. I dussn't unnerstand why she did not like my werks of art. I could has been famuss like that guy.

Anonymous said...

OMD! Thanks so very much for sharing and all the pics too. Mom cannot get her jaw off the ground. She said that his talent was Pawsome!

Sure hope that everypup and their families are doing well even though they cannot use the internet.

Thanks for letting us know bout them.

woos, Tessa

Maggie Mae and Max said...

Frankie,

Thanks fur da update on our furiends. Mom and me saw on da teevees dat bad storms were in da mid-west last night. :)

Woofs and Licks,
Maggie Mae

Pees Da carvings are pawsome!

Lorenza said...

Hi, Frankie!
What is going on with all these storms??
We are not close to Illinois but sure the wind here is crazy!
That man was amazing! He did so beautiful carving things!
Thanks for sharing it!
Take care
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

The Adventures of the LLB Gang said...

Thanks so much for the PSA Frankie, we were worried about Jazzi!!

What awesome train carvings!! We are going to show our Daddy, he LOVES trains!!

Smileys!
Dory, Jacob and Bilbo

Asta said...

WOW
Fwankie
He weally was a geenuss. his wowk is exquisite and bootiful. Thank you so much fow showing us.
I'm showing this to my pawents I know they will love it Butttttt, it makes mommi's extwemely fwagile ego as a paintew cwumble even fuwfew, hehehe
I am cwossing my paws fow ouw fwiends in all that heat and no intewnets
smoochie kisses
ASTA

Anonymous said...

Ooohhh Frankie! I was just at Wyatt and Stanzies post and it was ALL about TRACTORS!!! You best tell your Pop right now cause he is gona LOVE the pictures...

Love ya BIG Bro.

Woos, Tessa

The Daily Pip said...

I am so worried about Jazzi! I hope they have power again soon! Of course, we are all OK except for my mama's umbrella ...

I agree sculptors are amazing and these are extra special. I can't imagine the amount of work and time that goes into these creations.

Your pal, Pip

Wyatt said...

That is a pretty cool museum. Thanks fur showing it to us!

Hope our pals get their power back soon.

Wyatt and Stanzie

♥Mona + Prissy + Angel Weenie♥ said...

Wow!!

We finally got rain the last few days but yesterday it was stormy and I was terrified. Weenie staye right by my side and comforted me becuase Mommy was a work. Here gonna do a post about about what Weenie did.

{{{huggies}}}...Mona & my hero, Weenie too

Adien Crafts said...

Hi Frankie, we're thinking of all our friends having storm problems and hoping things improve soon.

Wow what a special man to carve such beautiful things, he had a real gift, how great that you can just go and visit them. Our Momster is very Crafty and loves anything like this so she might pinch your idea nad do a post for her Craft Blog too, hope that's okay.

Keep well my friend, Dex amd Lou x

PS Cris averted and Louis rescued from under the blanket!

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Hi Mr Frankie, my mum says they have to be some of the most beautiful and amazing things she has seen. I hope your friends get cool soon. No worries, and love, Stella

Sagira said...

That sure is cool! My mom's Grandpa used to work the train, he always loved watching them and talking about them.