My husband has had this giraffe in his nightstand drawer for a while. It's not my taste necessarily but it was his from before we met so I dared not throw it out. It was a gift from his mother and therefore special...or so I thought. Turns out he bought it a few years ago from Waccamaw Pottery several years ago (on purpose!) and thusly had no particular attachment to it. How lovely! I had designs on this little wood giraffe and had just been given the go-ahead.
You know where I'm going with this, don't you? Yes, that's right, to the garage! If you're squeamish, avert your eyes.
My kids came out and asked what mommy was doing cutting the head off of their (suddenly) precious giraffe (that had been in daddy's nightstand drawer for 5 years, undisturbed). They were a little upset until I made them a giraffe finger puppet, and then all was forgiven.
Voila! Finger puppet! I am no longer bad mom.
I cut into the body of the giraffe and could tell right away that the wood was going to be lovely. It also smelled of cedar and black pepper. It reminded me of meat on the grill in a way, which was not something I've encountered before. Some woods smell sweet but this was the first peppery wood I've smelled.
I roughed out a piece and put a quick layer of tung oil on it just to see the grain. Here you see it next to a finished piece of oak (oak is on the right).
It will need to be sanded several times then oiled, sanded, oiled, sanded, oiled, sanded...you get the picture, before it becomes a pendant. I have no idea what kind of wood it is so it will now be dubbed "giraffe wood".
Here's proof I'll never be hired to be a hand model but I'm still watching for a gig that calls for a mask-wearing middle aged woman to be covered in a fine layer of sawdust. I can totally do that.
Photos of the completed pendants soon. I'm excited to see how this wood turns out.
Have a great start to the week, everyone.
