Kaleidoscope for Nina

Chip-carved basswood, mirrors, cherry wood, brass hardware, stain & polyurethane - 1992 - (NFS, private collection)

In 1992, I was trying my best to convince a princess to marry me. It was rough going (exaggeration for dramatic effect). Digging in to my creative depths, what emerged was a story and a box with a gift inside. And I learned a ton about chip carving.

Miraculously, (spoiler alert!) she said yes.

The story goes that the boy loved to finish his chores at his father’s carpentry shop in the wooded village so he could go watch the comings and goings in the castle courtyard. After sweeping up the shavings, putting the freshly sharpened tools away and corking the bottles of linseed oil, he would race to the wall and climb an old curvy tree to the top and let himself down onto the wall. From there he could see …

One particularly sunny day, as he sat in the shade of the tree’s leaves on the wall watching a merchant unload iron cookware from his wagon down below, a voice very close by said, “Hey! That’s my spot.” Startled and a little flustered at being found, he blurted, “Where?! Who said that?” As his eyes became accustomed to the shade of the tree …

(to be continued …)