Today I want to tell you about something I have loved since I was a kid. There’s a museum in the town next to where I grew up called The Ernest Warther Museum. Ernest “Mooney” Warther was a whittler and made some AMAZING carvings of trains that could actually move. His wife Frieda collected buttons and made designs out of them, and hung them up.
Here is the website so you can see some of their art:
https://thewarthermuseum.com/ourstory
I remember going to the museum a lot when I was younger. We would watch the welcome video about how Mooney would make pliers out of a chunk of wood and go through the main rooms watching the wheels on the trains rotate. There was even this one area that had carvings of people moving and “working” in a carved factory. Frieda’s button collection was in the shed around back and her designs were beautiful. Around Christmas time, they have a Christmas Tree Festival where you can walk through the museum and see a bunch of trees decorated by different people in the area.
In a building across the street, they make gorgeous knife sets with wooden handles. (you can see them here: https://warthercutlery.com/ ) I remember watching them make the sets through a window! We used to take relatives and friends visiting from out of town to see the carvings, button art, and knife making. It’s just a cute thing from my home I thought I’d share with all of you 😊 I can’t take you to visit, but maybe one day you can have a little trip and enjoy some art. 😊 As always, if you take any fun pictures or videos, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next exciting idea
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