A Groden

A Groden

Mar 26

 

I’ve been posting a lot of Anri Nutcrackers lately so I figured a recent Groden repair would fit right in.

 

Grodens and Anris are kind of related. The Groden valley of Italy produced nutcrackers as far back as the 1700s and may have been a contributing factor to the famous nutcracker production firm called Anri to be established by the Italian artisan, Anton Riffeser in the 1920s in northern Italy.

 

The Groden nutcrackers pre-date the Anris. They are very rare and highly sought after by collectors.

 

I’ve been very fortunate to have had a few of these very rare pieces come through my shop over the years. Grodens are prone to having base and feet problems. The wood grain runs vertical throughout the piece which causes these areas to be weak.

 

The piece that came into the shop was no exception:

 

 

 

Here you can see I’ve added a new base, feet, and carved a new lever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is as far as I’m going on this piece, the customer is going to paint and finish it.

 

I’m hoping they send me pictures once its done!

 

Anri Chef

Anri Chef

Mar 23

 

Here’s a great example of an Anri Chef nutcracker.

This one came in with a couple chunks missing from the chef’s hat.

 

Here’s a picture of it in process of being repaired:

 

 

Here are some photos after the repairs:

 

 

This piece had a very unique patina that was a challenge to replicate. As you can see by the following photo, it came out perfect.

 

 

The shop has been really busy so stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

 

—– Brandon

 

Really Old Anri

Really Old Anri

Mar 19

 

Here’s another great piece from the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum.

 

It came in with the jaw pushed in and an old repair on the handle that needed blended in.

 

Here’s a picture of the piece when it came in:

 

 

Here’s a close up of the jaw and handle before the repairs:

 

 

 

Here are pictures of the piece after the jaw was fitted with a new pin and the handle repair blended in better:

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of those pieces that you have to know where to stop with the restoration.

 

The wear and tear I’m leaving alone is this piece’s signature of authenticity. It’s from many years of being used and shouldn’t be fixed. It’s undeniable proof of its age.

 

The piece came out great, and I am looking forward to getting this piece back to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum soon so it can go on display for many to enjoy.

 

—–Brandon

Anri Cat

Anri Cat

Mar 13

 

Here’s a great piece from the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum.

 

It’s an Anri cat that was in need of a new pin and a paint refresh.

 

Here’s a couple before photos:

 

 

 

Here’s how the Anri Cat nutcracker looks now:

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very rare piece and it came out great.

 

Stay tuned, many more pieces to come!

 

—–Brandon

Anri Nutcrackers!

Anri Nutcrackers!

Mar 09

 

Got a big box from Arlene Wagner from the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum.

 

It’s chock full of Anri nutcrackers in need of repair.  Nine to be exact, Awesome!

 

 

Stay tuned for updates as I cover each one in more detail as I repair them and get them ready to be sent back to Arlene at the museum to be put on display for visitors to enjoy!

 

—– Brandon

 

 

African Mahogany

African Mahogany

Mar 05

 

 

Picked up a great piece of African Mahogany at Woodcraft this week.

 

African Mahogany is beautiful, but is very acidic and requires dust control when working with it.

 

As you can see from the pictures, Rough sawn 8/4 Mahogany doesn’t sit in my shop for very long before it gets turned into something cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for updates as I get these pieces together for the Nutcracker Collectors Convention in May.

 

—– Brandon

Progress

Progress

Feb 27

 

Still plugging away.

 

Skull #4 is finally done.

 

I normally make these out of Black Walnut. I decided to make this one out of Mahogany, and it came out great!

 

 

 

 

 

Also made some progress on the new skull screw type nutcracker.

 

Still a little rough, but getting there.

 

 

 

 

 The weather is supposed to be pretty mild so I plan on spending a lot of time out in the shop this week.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

—– Brandon

 

Skulls

Skulls

Feb 21

 

 It’s been a really nice weekend here in Ohio.

 

It was in the 60’s yesterday; I can get used to that!

 

Got out in the shop a little and made progress on the skull nutcrackers.

 

Here’s the screw type skull nutcracker I’m working on. Making something that doesn’t exist is always challenging because you always run into weird issues that take more time than you expect to figure out and overcome.

 

 

 

 

Here’s the more traditional style which isn’t giving me as much trouble. This is skull #4 of this type so I have most of the kinks worked out in regards to carving these. This one is almost done.

 

 Just waiting on clear coat. Didn’t have any in shop so I have to pick some up on my lunch break tomorrow. No worries, had plenty of other pieces to work on. That’s a good thing!

 

 

 

 

Once these two are done I have a few more ideas and am hoping to get a few more cool pieces done and ready for the Nutcracker Collectors Club Convention in May.

 

 Yeah, I really need to figure out how to make clones of myself to help with all this carving and stuff.

 

Stay tuned!