The Last Cask - Wind in the Willows
Toad, Rat, Mole, Badger, Otter...
Our neighbor, Larry Brown, visited us often while we worked in our garage creating The Great Sea Monster Cask; he liked popping in to see the progress and cheer us onward. We liked his visits. One day he saw me looking at the next blank cask end and asked, why not Wind in the Willows? I call myself Toad. We call our home Toad Hall. There are cartoons of my life as Toad; it was a natural.
A New Method
With the large hole at the bottom, this cask end needed a different approach. The characters from Wind in the Willows were carved in three-quarter inch thick Linden and painted. Once they were ready, I carved and exact spot for each and "sunk" it directly into the cask end to a depth of about half an inch. Suitable scenery from the wild wood was carved around them to bring the entire face of the cask together into a colorful singular homage.
Wind in the Willows is finished - the last large cask end.
This may be the best of all of them.