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Showing posts with label Dala horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dala horse. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The un-Dala horse fiasco

A few months ago I posted about Swedish Dala horses. As fascinated as I am by their traditional design, I simply couldn't come up with a way to make them work in my home, but I couldn't quit thinking about the plain white and gray ones from The Swedish Wooden Horse Company.

However, they are a little pricey, so I decided to look on eBay. I finally won an unfinished one a few days ago. It had a coat of primer and was ready to paint. All I had to do was pick a color. A thought hit me. Would black show up better against my white walls?


remodelista.com

My Dala horse...primed and ready to paint


That black one looked great, but the white and gray ones kept calling my name. Gray or white? White or gray? I agonized. Why was I being so indecisive? That's not like me at all.

OK then...gray. But finding the perfect gray spray paint turned out to be harder than I had anticipated, so I abandoned that idea in favor of white.

Since the afternoon was beautifully sunny, I decided it was time to paint my un-Dala horse. Rattle can in hand, I put on the first coat. Then a second. And a third. Covering the blue primer was proving to be a challenge too. So much for super-duper paint + primer.

Suddenly, the sun went behind an odd little cloud, and out came a few sprinkles of rain, which stopped as quickly as they had started. Whew! The sun peeked back out from behind the cloud, and I went inside to let the horse dry for a few minutes.

Just as I smiled about my good luck, I heard thunder and rushed out to bring in the horse and my supplies as larger raindrops began to fall. I could see a few spots that needed one last coat. No time for gloves, I hurriedly held the horse out the back door and gave it a couple of spritzes, necessitating a new manicure and making this the most slapdash paint project of my life.

 But I had thought of a perfect place for a white horse, so all was right with the world.





Thursday, December 5, 2013

Dala horses

The Swedish Dala horse (Dalahäst) has been around for centuries. It is thought to have been created in the 1700s by woodcutters in the province of Dalarna near Mora on the long winter nights away from their families. They would pass the time carving toys for their children. These toys were generally left unpainted or were painted a solid color.

A century later, while King Charles XII of Sweden waged war throughout most of Europe, many soldiers were quartered in private homes  in the Mora area. These soldiers would barter for food with wooden toys that they painted with harness and saddle.

The Dala horse has become symbolic of this region of Sweden, and indeed of Sweden itself. It is often used in signs on houses in that country and decorated with house numbers of the family name of residents.

The horse is still a popular item with lovers of Scandinavian design and ethnic crafts, made famous in the United States during the New York World's Fair of 1939. A Dala horse was placed outside the Swedish pavilion and caused such a stir that over 20,000 were shipped to the U.S. the next year.

I found some at The Swedish Wooden Horse Company that are delightful. The multi-colored ones are perfect for holiday decorating, and a set of white or gray ones would be perfect on display in a modernist setting year round.

From dalahorse.com and theswedishwoodenhorse.com



White Dala horses
theswedishwoodenhorse.com

Red Dala horses
theswedishwoodenhorse.com

Blue Dala  horses
theswedishwoodenhorse.com

Pink Dala horses
theswedishwoodenhorse.com

Gustavian grey Dala horses
theswedishwoodenhorse.com


Watch this video to see how Dala horses are made:


theswedishwoodenhorse.com