whittling at Tuileries...

My wife and I are one half block from Tuileries, and one of the things I planned to do while in Paris was simply whittle one of the Froebel balls for gift number 2.

So in addition to visiting the Church of St. Roche down the street, Musée des arts et métiers, and Les Arts Decoratifs as the Louvre, I sat in a green chair for about 45 minutes and whittled this ball as shown above. Pourquoi, s'il vows plaît? Why not. Someone in this large world of Paris needs to be making something. In 1867, the director of the training college at Cluny in France, said the following:

"The introduction of manual work into an educational establishment can have two ends in view--either to prepare the pupils for a special calling, or to put into play their physical faculties. the prevision of the eye, the dexterity and suppleness of the hand, and to oblige the pupils to reason and reflect, whilst at the same time it causes them to know the application of theory to practice, as well as the advantages of both."

The device shown at left is a spring lathe, of the kind that you can make, and that is on display at the Musée des arts et métiers. If Friedrich Froebel turned a sphere on the lathe, it would have been on one simpler than this.

Make, fix and create...