What is a Dalecarlian horse?

maxse (60)in #life • 8 years ago (edited)

Hi fellow Steemians,
In 2009 I visited a craft shop in Nusnäs, Sweden. I took these photos when I was 14 years old, I hope I can still remember the process.

What is it?

The Dalecarlian horse (or Dalahäst) is a traditional carved, painted wooden horse that originates from the Swedish province Dalarna. At first it was just a childrens toy, now it's become a symbol of Dalarna and... Sweden!
There's several kinds of horses:

They can differ from (work)place to place. The horses I took pictures of have the most common style in shape. The most familiar color is red, however in this shop they paint them in all different kinds of lovely colors.

The workshop

Of course the location is beautiful, it's in Sweden...

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the town itself, but these photos were taken not far from there.

The process

A plank of pine or alder is marked/ stencilled with the outline of a horse.
Contour-sawing in the first band saw.
Profile sawing in the second band saw. Sawing by free had, forming of a head, legs and stomach. The horse is now called a workpiece.
Woodcarving with a knife
Dipping in water based paint (first coat)
Puttying and polishing
Final dipping in the first coat colour. This is the familiar red color:

White is also nice:
Oil painting in the kurbits style
Dipping in clear laquer. When the oil paint has dried after about two days, the horse is dipped in a clear varnish to protect the design and to give it a finish.

The result:

horseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorseshorses