Story Time

Kathleen Kay

Jungle ….. Now there’s a theme for fun rather than precision: so, let’s go for it. I can share some story-time fun with the grandchildren. Nannas are allowed to be fun, and just a little dotty, when storytelling to toddlers.

Thinking back to my own two sons, many years ago when I read them stories including The Jungle Book (I still have a copy), a little jungle panel could have involved them in play by randomly placing their metal toy monkeys, chimps, frogs, Baloo the bear and, of course, Shere Khan the tiger, helping them to be part of the story. The panel could hang on the wall, like a picture.

Always keen to share crazy ideas with fellow enamellers, I decided my Jungle would be made entirely from copper shim, cut out with small, sharp, pointed scissors. I used scribers and an assortment of small pliers to form the copper shapes and then cleaned each piece thoroughly by pickling in salt and vinegar solution and brushing with a tiny wire brush. Pieces were then rinsed in clean water and dried with kitchen roll or tissue.