Lobster Push Toy

This one was built in late 2018. I have the book Animated Animal Toys in Wood by David Wakefield (Suggestion: Use the Buy Tools link above to help out Craftisian a bit). My grandson decided he wanted the Lobster. He liked toys that he could push on the floor rather than ones with a pull cord. I asked him what color he wanted and he said “blue”. Blue?! Why did I ask? But then I did a little searching and found that some lobsters are blue so – blue it is!

The book’s instructions and drawings are easy enough to follow. The build was pretty straightforward with one exception.

When I first made the eyes I had them extended from the head like the antennae on the Grasshopper Pull Toy. Something didn’t look right. Then I realized that lobsters have beady little eyes. So even though the plans called for protruding eyes (and mine were sticking a lot further than the plan) and the finish was on, I cut them off and re-mounted them close to the head.

All these toys are made from some cherry wood harvested from a local forest. The color is rather bland so it is a good base for adding color. Again the color is from Transtint dyes and the finish is water based  polyurethane.

It was fun to watch him open it. As soon as it was out of the box he took off pushing so fast both claws flipped over and stayed open! Over the years the finish has worn off the bottom of the tail giving it nice well used look.