Thursday, May 13, 2021

Totempole for the local kindergarten

This time while at home, I barely had time to go into the shop, since we had to empty my parent's house as it was sold. it is a good thing that we managed to sell the house fast, but clearing up your childhood home is not a pleasant job. 
I spent roughly 3 weeks out of my 4 weeks of home period emptying the house. And I was sorry everyday that I was doing it. 
I even started dreaming about moving stuff around in my trailer, and I was a bit stressed about it.  It was much better when I dreamt about stealing a helicopter from US Coast Guard. (I have no idea why I was going to steal a helicopter, but it seemed like a good idea in that dream..)

Anyway, when the house was ready for handing over to the new owners, it was a relief, and I was planning to do a bit of organizing in the shop and the stores room, sort of as a reward to myself, and to find a place for all those bits and pieces from my dads shop too. 

Before getting started on that, one of the adults from the local kindergarten called me and asked if I could help her make a totempole. Asger stopped in the kindergarten 10 years ago, but they remembered that I had always willingly helped them in the past, and they knew that I could work wood. 
I instantly decided that it was worth doing to help them, and they would bring over a log that I could use.
Kaja (the adult) explained that her group of children from 3-4 years old were going to have a theme event about Indians. they would try to build tepees and learn a bit about the history etc. So that was why they needed a totempole too. 

When I got the log I first removed the bark and then started dividing the log into a few sections. The idea was to make a Totem figure on the top with a beak and a smiling mouth and the later on ad a couple of wings. the lower sections would see happy faces of children and happy animals. I told Kaja that I didn't want to make any sort of scary faces or animals, which she agreed was a good ide given the age of the children.
By making an outline of all the faces and animals etc. it would give the children something they could use for painting, so they could do it and be reasonably certain to get a decent result.

I completed the totempole in one day and delivered it to the kindergarten Monday morning. The wings were not mounted, so that the could roll the totempole around for painting on the sides and the back of it. 
I'll try to take a picture of the painted totempole once I get home again.

A young Gustav having helped painting..

The raw log.

Bark removed and sections made.

Happy face of a girl.

Smiling totem figure

Wings attached.

Happy horse


10 comments:

  1. Such an awesome project! I'd love to do this with my children - be a great project I think they'd enjoy - you've given me quite the idea!

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    1. Hi Kev

      I am glad that you like the idea.
      Our daughter (almost 21 years old now) still remembers how they had a theme about Indians when she was in kindergarten 17 years ago. They made some headbands and put a few feathers in them, and they would bake bread over a bonfire etc.
      This totempole is made out of a fresh spruce log. So cutting it was really easy. I made the bottom part of it almost 90 cm long, so it could be dug into a hole in the ground and stand stable.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  2. Cool project, I'm sure it was very much appreciated.
    BTW my wife is native Mi'kmaq, if you ever want some source materials or ideas just let me know.

    Bob, from the land of Indians, because someone was looking for India, got lost and believed he was in India, hence our Natives were called Indians. Pay attention to geography in school kids :-)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bob

      Thanks for the kind offer. I'll let you know if they need any ideas when I get back on land and visit the kindergarten. I hope they have it painted at that time.

      Columbus might have been a fine explorer, but his navigational skills suffered at bit.. :-)

      Brgds
      Jonas

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    2. Well, Columbus had no accurate time piece and the first accurate marine chronometer is from the second half of 18th century; more than 250 years later.
      He would not even have a log (a board and a line with knots) but only an hourglass to estimate the distance travelled with no knowledge about the currents along the path. To estimate the speed one would throw an object at the stem and "measure" the time to see it at the bow. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log

      Because of a difference between Roman miles and Arab miles, the length of a great circle at the equator was wrongly taken as about 30 000km instead of 40 075 km. It is like thinking a bottle content is expressed in US gallon while it is in Imperial gallon.

      At that time the position of India was also thought to be much more away from Europe.

      Precise astronomical method was not available either. See:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison

      So not a lack of skills but erroneous documentation, lack of measurement standardisation and primitive technology.


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    3. I don't quite agree. Vasco da Gama and Magellan both knew that India was far far away, but I also recognize that information like that was kept secret from one country to another.
      So I think that Columbus should be honoured for re-discovering America, but even at that time the Spanish king wasn't interested in a new Continent, but rather a fast way to India to be able to trade spice etc.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Bill.

      I have to admit that I was a bit flattered that they remembered me after 10 years.
      Asger really had a great time while in the kindergarten, and most of the grown-ups are still there. And they still do a fantastic job.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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