[Woodcarver] Trolls, Tomten, and Other Scandinavian Legends

[sally nye]

Oh-h-h Mike, I should have cautioned you about the addiction of 
postcard collecting.  (smiling)  I'm happy you're enjoying the 
postcards, though.  Jenny Nystrom is the well-known and famous "tomte, 
tomten, tomtar" artist. Her son, Curt, followed in his mothers 
footsteps.

Now for the RESEARCH subject...

Just a bit of advice for you and Tony on the "Troll" patterns.  Neither 
David nor I have actually researched this topic.  Yes, we hear about 
things such as good/bad Trolls while visiting foreign countries.  
Because of our Old World folk art research (specifically fan birds) it 
often overlaps into like subjects.  Due to the fact that we work with 
museums, historians, antiquarian book stores, etc. our information is 
from qualified and creditable sources.

It is most important that we are respectful of the foreign cultures and 
their legends and customs.  Make that a double on the "respect."  Their 
legends and customs have deep meaning and, more often than not, they 
are derived from spiritual roots.  When you understand the basis of the 
legends and customs you soon learn it not simply a superstition.

Also the country borders changed more often than you would think.  At 
one time the northern half of Germany was Sweden.  The 
European/Scandinavian education system teaches their history 
thoroughly.  Much better than our school system.  In normal 
conversation they can recite dates and border changes without going to 
a book and looking it up.  So a Swedish custom could easily be found in 
Germany and vice versa.

It is great to have "fun" with the Trolls but when you start designing 
patterns, with your name attached, to put on the internet, it is all 
too easy to look like the dumb American.  You might consider doing a 
bit of research first.  Most of that can be done on the net.

Just my word of caution for what it's worth.
Sally
http://www.fancarversworld.com

On Aug 5, 2006, at 9:17 PM, Mike Bloomquist wrote:

Not to beat a dead horse, but I got it from a very good source in Sweden
that there are bad trolls and good trolls. This info came via Sally and
David Nye who just visited Sweden this past Spring where they did fan 
bird
research and visited friends.

On a different topic... Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sally and 
David
who also brought back an awesome collection of tomten related postcard 
art
which they gave to me at the NEWR.  Thanks to them I have a new pattern
making technique.  You keep flipping through the postcards until your 
head
is thoroughly saturated with the images, get deep into a carving zone (I
know you've been there before), grab a good piece of basswood, sketch 
your
idea directly on the wood, and start makin' chips.  It isn't as 
reliable as
sketches, pictures, and clay models, but it sure worked this time!  Must
have been tomten magic... Tony will be relieved <G>.  I'll have pics 
real
soon.

Keep on Carvin'
-Mike B.->