What You'll Get

Hands-on Education - You'll use knives, chisels and vises, as well as sandpaper and files for finishing. Options for finishing will be offered.

Everyone who joins us for this experience will walk away with a finished animal figure, and two high-quality tools.

Galloping Antiquities is a young business and our product line is always expanding. If you you'd like to work on a custom piece please let me know and we'll do our best to make it happen.

A Timeless Toy - Rocking Horses are the original rain-or-shine exercise machine. Children learn balance, strengthen core muscles and stretch their imaginations with rocking horses. All of our rocking animals are available in Toddler (for 1- to 3-year-olds) and Youngster (for 4- to 7-year-olds), and are carved and constructed from American-grown woods, painted and finished to be non-toxic and extremely durable. When not in use, your Galloping Antiquities rocking toy adds an inviting sense of intimacy and warmth to any room.

Description - Share in the construction of your beautiful rocking horse that will be both a toy and a decorative home accent. Four half-day sessions will combine hands-on practice, photo and video instruction about horse anatomy, movement and history.You will acquire some inspiring background knowledge about horse and human history share in the carving and building of a dramatic kinetic sculpture/rocking horse.

You'll choose one of three rocking horse designs. The course starts with a visit to a specialty lumber yard to select wood. You will then work with the woodcarver to select wood, work with patterns, carve, glue, sand and finish your rocking horse.

You'll come away with an appreciation of the end-to-end process of creating a rocking horse, and hands-on knowledge of wood carving on an approximately 1/3 scale.

You will use patterns, chisels, gouges, vise, sander, clamps and knives.

Cost - Our heirloom-quality rocking horses are priced starting at $3,000 but price will vary based on your specifications.

Two to three people per experience, with or without previous wood sculpting experience. Women are encouraged to attend. We'll work from my shop, outdoors in warm weather.

Restrictions - Although all efforts are made to keep sawdust under control, wood shops do tend to be dusty. If you have lung or other breathing issues, this class might not be a good choice for you, especially in winter months. Wood carving requires patience as well as sitting and standing for substantial periods. Carving requires some hand strength. If you have arthritis in your hands, this course might be a challenge for you. Good close-up vision, with or without correction, is absolutely necessary. That said, I have some arthritis in my hands and asthma, and I do okay. Proceed at your own risk.

Description - This is a foundational experience. You'll find or create a design that you'd like to carve and create an animal figure in wood. Starting small, you'll gain an understanding of the properties of wood and blades and how to work with them.

I'll present a step-by step process for arriving at a design, transferring it to a suitable wood block and carving it to achieve a pleasing result. We'll discuss creating illusion (of hair, of motion, etc) in wood. In a highly interactive process, students will work under close supervision to assure success.

Through demonstration and supervised practice, you'll learn a variety of techniques for carving in the round, emphasizing basics of safety, turning the object often, and choosing the right tool for the job. You'll also learn proper care of blades.

Cost - $320 (excluding materials). The experience consists of 20 class hours in two-hour sessions.

Maximum of two participants per experience. We'll work from my shop, outdoors in warm weather.

Restrictions - Although all efforts are made to keep sawdust under control, wood shops do tend to be dusty. If you have lung or other breathing issues, this class might not be a good choice for you, especially in winter months. Wood carving requires patience as well as sitting and standing for substantial periods. Carving requires some hand strength. If you have arthritis in your hands, this course might be a challenge for you. Good close-up vision, with or without correction, is absolutely necessary. That said, I have some arthritis in my hands and asthma, and I do okay. Proceed at your own risk.

Rocking horses are an artistic endeavor, an engineering challenge and--the way I do them--a bit of a time-traveling adventure as well. Art itself is a journey of discovery. Every piece presents new problems to solve, confronts you with new limitations to overcome, leads to new territory—often not where you thought you were going. If you aren't mystified along the way and surprised when you arrive, you might not have been doing art.

I discovered woodcarving when I was a teenager. I worked with a couple of dull chisels and my father's pocket knife in walnut and mahogany, making toys, chess pieces, a crèche. The local museum offered a class in woodworking in which students used 200-year-old tools. After a career as a journalist and business researcher, I have returned to the challenges of working in the round.

I invite you to come discover with me the pleasures of using human-power tools to create art.