Dala horses by my friend Julia

My friend Julia is a painter, a crafter, and a gardener. Recently she's had some success selling Dala horses on Zazzle. Dala horses are a part of Swedish, and Swedish-American, customs and heritage. They were originally carved by Swedish people during the long winters and painted red because the copper mines in the province of Dalarna, where the horse carvings started, yielded red pigment. Here's Julia's own words on why she makes Dala horses:

I've always loved horses and used to get made fun of as a child because I would always color them red. I had no idea why I did that. I just felt they should be that color.

My paternal grandfather had immigrated from Sweden but never talked much about it other than to teach me how to say a few words in swedish. My dad was proud that both of his parents had swedish ancestry but other than introducing us to a couple of his relatives didn't talk much more about it. As an adult I learned about dala horses and asked a Swedish uncle how I could learn to make then and he just replied "that's just something they do for the tourists" so I ended up having to teach myself.

I knew I'd gotten it right when the dala horse merchandise I created on Zazzle began to sell best in Sweden. Recently I inherited some of my baby pictures where I was playing with Dala Horse toys and then I knew I'd gone full circle and found the reason that they feel so much a part of me. Age and disability prevent me from carving horses much but I don't think I'll ever stop designing and painting them.

Julia's blog about her Dala horses is at www.dalahorsesbyjulia.blogspot.com. Her other blog, about painting and gardening, is at paintersgarden.blogspot.com.

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