Keeping alive an age-old tradition of hand-crafted toys

By Ravena Gildharie

AS children, most of us, especially those from the ‘countryside,’ would recall making our own toys. Miniature cars were crafted from matchboxes and bottle corks while in riverine communities, the bearings of troolie palms made spinning tops popularly called “buck tops.” Awara and kuru seeds were used for a game of marbles or “gamm” while ‘corkwood’ guns were popular for “war break.”

Modernity has since replaced such childhood joys as plastic and metal toys are sold at shops in every nook and cranny of Guyana. As adults, rarely do we see persons continuing those childhood practices of handmade toys, whether to teach their children or much less take the creativity to the next level for the enjoyment of others.

BACK TO BASICS
However, in the Anna Regina Housing Scheme on the Essequibo Coast, Richard Muchette, a 43-year-old amputee is using his carpentry skills to up his designs of the most elaborate wooden toy trucks and tractors with trailers. His creations include replicas of John Deere vehicles, painted in green and bearing the most intricate details of the brand, right down to the style and fashion of the fenders, which Muchette crafts with hard plastic melted from buckets and tubs. In blue, he carves the design of Ford, while in red it is the Massy Ferguson and New Holland in yellow.

“I does usually line off the tractors and trucks in two rows flat on the ground in meh house and when people come with their children to buy, I does see how the children face light up and I does feel a lil bad about the price sometimes, but you know I does do this also to make a living because I lost my foot and can’t work,” Muchette, popularly known as Ricky, told the Pepperpot Magazine. He lost his right leg three years ago to diabetes and around the same time, he also became a single parent. His three sons are now teenagers, ages 18, 15 and 13; the youngest is still attending secondary school.

MAKING A LIVING
For the just-ended Christmas season, Ricky specifically crafted nine pieces, six of which have been sold. His pieces are sold at prices varying $6,000 to $9,000 each. When he started the activity nine months ago, he sold the toys at $6,000 apiece. However, as he advanced his creativity and skills, it required more materials and added production costs that forced him to increase the unit price. While this may seem exorbitant to Ricky, plastic toy vehicles bearing such sizes and designs often fetch prices ranging from $15,000 to as much as $100, 000.

Ricky’s wooden creations are usually in two to three feet in length, with the body of the vehicle carved from a solid pole, most often of a hardwood variety. The wheels are carved from flat boards.

Explaining the process, Ricky related going to the sawmill located nearby to select the ideal wooden materials. His eldest son would often tow Ricky on a bicycle to fetch the wood while the workers at the sawmill usually assist in having it planed and ready for Ricky to begin carving with his handsaw and a chisel.

“My workshop is on my verandah,” he outlined, as he described his day of activities, which includes preparing breakfast and lunch for himself and sons, and then tidying up the kitchen before he begins working at around 09:00 hrs each day.

“It takes a lot of thinking power to come up with the ideas as I carve and it takes a lot of time and lots of patience too,” Ricky emphasised.

HOW LIFE SUDDENLY CHANGED
As a child growing up at Somerset, another village on the Essequibo Coast, Ricky always enjoyed crafting toys of wood and mud. As an adult, he advanced his carpentry skills to earn a living and provide for his family but after he lost his leg, he faced several years of hardship and was even forced into begging.

One day, less than a year ago, he started carving a truck for his youngest son and after people saw it, they realised Ricky has a great talent and started ordering similar toys for their kids. So he began a venture to help provide for his family. He has since sold almost 30 pieces, equating output to at least three pieces per month, which he said is enough to maintain his living.

Similarly, like Ricky, a pensioner in Georgetown had taken to the streets his creations of toy cars and trucks made of discarded plastic bottles. He created quite a stir and many people including children quickly took a liking to his creativity and style.