The Grandparents Friend
This idea has been brought to life
I'm an animator and model-maker based in Northumberland. I combine digital animation techniques with more traditional methods like stop motion. I enjoy sharing my skills with others - I'm Lecturer at Sunderland University and also regularly work with community groups to create artwork.
This idea is being brought to life. Check out the blog for updates!
Blog entries
I painted the feather motif on the handle to match the colourful feathers on the inside to hint that this stick is a little bit special!
I started thinking about the decorative element Marie-Claire had mentioned perhaps a hint to the handle looking feathery. It was too tricky to carve directly into the stick so decided to play around with using resin decorative motifs to add onto it. We also attached the plumbing components to the handle and stick which screwed into one another to allow the two pieces of the stick to be rejoined.
Feather's seemed like the best material to use for the tickle element as they are soft and would also have a bit of pliability to them. I found an ethical feather seller called Clare who hand dyes naturally shedded emu feathers. Fascinating fact - emu feathers have two plumes from each quill! I attached the feathers onto a stick so they could be attached to the handle of the walking stick.
Brian got to work on hollowing out the walking stick. He needed to split it up into a few sections in order make a channel inside using a drill and chisels. Then he attached them all back together again! He made a pencil mark on each piece so he knew where each bit connected, otherwise it would have ended up a bit wobbly!
It was so lovely to meet Marie-Claire who came up with the idea of the Grandparent's Friend. I went along to see her with a walking stick and some plumbing hardware to show her what I was thinking to attach the two halves of the walking stick together. We had a great chat and Marie-Claire shared some further ideas on the stick. She described that she had also thought it might be nice if the handle of the stick had a decorative element to hint that this might not just be any ordinary walking stick. This reminded me of the parrot on Mary Poppins' umbrella - a hint of something a little bit magic!
My initial ideas to make this into a real object would be to combine a walking stick and a duster but there are lots of things to think about, how will the duster fit into the stick? what should the duster be made of to make it flexible enough to go into the stick and come back out again? how would the two pieces of the stick fit back together again? I'm collaborating with my dad Brian on this make - he's a joiner so has lots of expertise on making things made of wood.