Dala Delights

I do hope that you've had a chance to visit the Flickr Group for the Dala Horse Craftalong. So many equine beauties! Look for the Dala Horse Craftalong button in the sidebar to the right, give it a click, and prepare for a feast of crafty delights. The Craftlong ends on August 21st but you can continue to add photos to the group after that.

I love Dala Horses. They have such great history and a centuries long tradition of fine craftsmanship. Visit Hannah, one of the co-sponsors of the Craftalong, at her blog iHannah for some great info on Dala Horses. But even if I didn't know about all of that, I would be hooked by their colors.

So did I finish my first attempt at embroidery in ages? Yes, as a matter of fact, I took most of one glorious day of my week off work to sit on the couch and stitch. Here it is...

(Special thanks to my lovely assistant Zippy for modeling the apron.)

OK, I didn't plan on making an apron. I started rummaging around through my stash to work on this project and the only sturdy fabric I could find was this child's apron leftover from a previous project. My original intent was to cut it away from the apron and I may end up doing that, just as soon as I figure out what I want to do with my horsey gal.

As I mentioned, I ran the dogs off the couch one day this past week and spread out my playthings to work on my horse. How does one incorporate dog hair into an embriodery project? I was trying to remember the last time I did any embroidery and honestly can't recall. Cross-stitch has always been my thing and after looking at the beautiful work on Carina's Craftblog I started thinking it would be fun to try some embroidery again. Then along came the Craftalong- perfect opportunity! I dusted off my embroidery hoops and went to town.

Due to time constraints (only one week off work, school starting soon, a long To Do list) I didn't add any decorative elements around the horse. It's heavy on the stem stitch but visiting all of the beautiful stitch possibilities in the books was great fun. If this were cross-stitch I would show off the back but since it's a beginner's effort at embroidery I think some of you more accomplished needleworkers would faint dead away if I did that. So let's just look at the front. I am aware of things that did not turn out so well or that I simply did wrong. I would also love to hear your constructive criticisms so that I can take advantage of your knowledge and skill in order to improve. That sounds hokey but I'm sincere about it. Go ahead, say it. I can take it.

This being The Butterfly Jungle, I knew immediately that there had to be butterflies. So I studied the horses in my little collection, noted the consistencies in design, and then threw them out the window. Well, not totally. I tried to keep the general design the same. But not. So here you can see that the saddle is a butterfly. The three floss colors on the left were for the mane because I just made this up as I went along. Makes you want to faint, I know, but that's how I was rolling because it was my vacation week and that's what I wanted to do.

I tried a satin stitch for the butterfly's body but because this was worked on a heavy canvas I don't feel that I could get the stitches close enough. Is there a secret? Do you split the canvas threads? Anyway, the other satin stitch areas that I had thought about doing got nixed.

Little Lazy Daisy butterflies in the mane and bridle.

I am very cognizant of the fact that this is humble beginner's level work. The easy part was fooling around tracing the horses and coming up with designs. When it came time to actually start embroidering I thought, "Uh oh, how am I going to do that?" Thank goodness for the needlework section at Barnes & Noble. Oh who am I kidding- thank goodness for Barnes & Noble. When I still had not started for several days it was time to step back and see what was going on. I realized that the problem was my fear. Who did I think I was adding my intro level embroidery to the Craftalong Flickr group with all of the beautifully worked items by wonderfully talented women? And then I decided, to paraphrase Bette Midler, "To heck with 'em if they can't take a joke." All in all, and completely aware of my amateur standing in embroidery circles ('cause I do know you can embroider a circle), I'm pleased with my modest little horse. Ya gotta start somewhere, right?

My heritage is actually Norwegian and I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt for liking Dalas so much. Same with those gorgeous Moro floor clocks. I'm Norwegian, not Swedish. Thank goodness for the Fjord horses of Norway and the two little fellas in my collection that I can't for the life of me remember where I got. First I trace the outline ...

It's been great to have you stop in today. Thank you. I'll see ya next time.

Carina's Dala Horse CraftAlong

I jumped in with both feet, or maybe that's with all four hooves, after seeing the Dala Horse Craftalong over on Carina's Craftblog.




Image via Carina's Craftblog

 
Carina, along with Hanna (iHanna), Kathryn (The Pickled Herring) and Pam (Gingerbread Snowflakes), are running a Dala Horse Craftalong through August 21st. Go immediately to Carina's post here for the details and/or click on the Dala Horse Craftalong button in my sidebar to go to the Flickr group. You will love the pictures of the beautiful horses that have already been added to the pool. I tossed in my IKEA Dala Horse Hack from last year just to get in on the game.

I had tremendous fun decoupaging this gal. Just wish I had photos of the wonderful mess. We have a saying at our house- "You're not having fun if you're not getting dirty."

I originally found Carina's lovely blog last summer when we were both enrolled in Sister Diane's Blog Tune-Up class over at Craftypod. I was immediately drawn to the colors of her blog as they are My Colors (in spite of how my house looks now- my husband drew the line on the amount of pink in the decorating. Party pooper) and it made me think back to the days when I used to do mostly cross-stitch but a bit of embroidery as well. I sat at the dining room table for a couple of hours on Sunday tracing one of my Dala Horses and doodling around with embroidery pattern possibilities. That was the easy part- now I need to chisel out some quiet time to actually do the work. Oh, and such "work" it will be, toiling away with needle and embroidery floss. Whoa is me and all this "work."

Going for something just a bit different.

So anyway, back to the Dala Horse Craftalong. Click on the Craftalong button in the sidebar to visit the Flickr group. Then go over to Carina's and get the details, then join in the Flickr group fun with your project(s). I hope to have something show you later- it's been decades a couple years since I've done any embroidery so who knows what it will look like.


Thanks for visiting today and I hope to see some of your Dala-gals in the Flickr group- let me know.

My Dala Horse IKEA Hack

A few years ago, IKEA sold their modernized version of the Dala Horse, a decorative wooden horse from Sweden. Originally carved as toys, Dala horses became items used for barter for household goods as their popularity grew. The earliest record of a Dala horse for sale is from 1623. Traditionally carved and painted by a handful of artisans, mass production of the Dala horse began in the 1930's after they were featured in the World Fair. The horses are carved and decorated in specific patterns according to the locality of their makers, meaning which village or valley. The most easily recognized Dala horses are the bright orange-red ones from Nusnas painted with a kurbit saddle . A kurbit is a vine and the tradition of painting the horses this way comes from the Biblical account of Jonah's struggles to understand why God would so freely forgive the sinful Ninevites. God caused a kurbit, or a vine to grow up and shade Jonah as he pouted on the hillside overlooking Nineveh. The wiggly painting on the saddle represents the kurbit.

I have a small collection of Dala horses (about 10), most of which I don't remember where I acquired. A couple came from my mom, one I bought over the phone from a gift shop in Westby, Wisconsin while on maternity leave, another came from my aunt.

The tiny little guy shown here is barely half an inch tall but Dalas come in a variety of sizes and colors.

I also have two Fjord horses from Norway. They are decorated with the traditional decorative painting of Norway called rosemaling. I personally prefer the Fjord horses, or Fjording horse, as that is my heritage and the rosemaling makes me think of my mom. She is a talented and creative lady and rosemaling has been around our home for as long as I can remember.

Fjord horses are beautiful draft horses which originated in western Norway. They have a very distinctive build and while a small horse, they are strong enough for heavy farming but agile enough to be driven. Fjord horses also compete in dressage. They are beautiful, gentle tempered horses.

Photo from Tomasz Sienicki at Wikimedia Commons

So back in the 1990's IKEA marketed their version of the traditional Dala horse sporting a variety of paint jobs. I'm sorry that I don't have photos. One horse had a rose tattooed on its hindquarter, a tribal vine tattoo around a front leg, and a piercing in its ear. I had the academic horse- gray with a pair of Buddy Holly glasses, covered with a smattering of typeset characters. It was cute for awhile but eventually it ended up in the "been there, done that, moved on" cupboard for abandoned decorating accessories. Soon an idea began to germinate: if IKEA can decorate a Dala however they please, why can't I? Then came scrapbooking. Now, I'm not really a scrapbooker- I don't have that gene. But I love the paper. Last Halloween I decoupaged pumpkins with my patients using scrapbook paper and that's when I knew what to do with the literate looking horse in the closet.

I tore up almost two sheets of scrapbook paper and covered him bit by bit (aha- get it? "Bit", horse's bit, like in their mouth. Oh stop it) using what I once heard referred to as "craft nectar"- Mod Podge. It was glorious messy fun. To be consistent with the sizes of torn paper I had to make them smaller than I might otherwise have done because of the logistics of getting the paper, which was kind of thick, to go around his horsey parts.

I would maybe use a different pattern if I were to do it again but he's fine the way his is and keeps watch over us on the rare occasion that we watch TV.

Want to try this?

Please, don't cover a real Dala horse.

I mean I suppose it's your choice but Dalas are not cheap. According to a quick Internet  search, a twelve inch horse can range between $130 to $275 depending on where you shop. You can maybe do better with an online auction such as ebay.com as there are Dalas all over there but you have to be careful. It would be so sad to decoupage over a vintage horse. If you stumble across a Dala at a yard sale and it's going for a quarter- buy it. But don't cover it as it very likely is vintage and $$$$$ more than a quarter. It is possible to find unpainted Dalas on the Internet for a bit cheaper and in the past I've seen papier mache horses (not necessarily Dalas). So I guess I was lucky to have a mass produced non-Dala Dala horse to play with. But maybe you'll be inspired to look at the things around you in a new light.

"If Chrysalis can cover a horse ...."