Walking sticks support more than local hikers
Published Wednesday July 16th, 2008
Sales help library, missionary work in Belize
Looking for something to lean on when the road gets a little bumpy? Like a comforting shoulder or a good friend, Winslow Chase's walking sticks can lend support and some artistic inspiration.
Chase's handcrafted walking sticks are currently on display at the Plaster Rock Public Library, creating a striking honour guard along one wall. Their varied sizes, colours and designs are a testament to Chase's creativity.
"I know it sounds a little new age and hippy-like but the sticks tell me what they want to be," he said as looks over handles decorated with inlaid marbles or wound with colourful bindings. "Sometimes I keep a stick for as long as two years before I finish it."
Chase uses a variety of woods for his walking sticks but said that birch is the best because it dries without cracking and splitting.
"Pin cherry is really hard to use because you have to be so careful it doesn't split," he explained.
Chase gathers his sticks on trips into the woods then peels them and lets them dry. Then he adds the decorations, sometimes as simple as a coat of paint or as intricate as a snake tattoo, leaf stencils, wood burned designs or leather laces. Every stick receives a piece of copper pipe at its base for long-wearing protection and then it's ready for a new owner.
"I must have made somewhere between 300 and 400," the creator mused. "I've got sticks down in Pennsylvania, Ontario, Nova Scotia and I think there's even some down Alabama way."
Chase said he started making the sticks about eight or nine years ago when the church he was attending needed staffs for plays they were producing. Soon, he was experimenting with decorative finishes for the slender staffs.
"I had a wood burner at the time and that's what got me going," he recalled.
Not only are the sticks at the library on display but they are also for sale for $30 each or two for $50. Chase is giving half of the proceeds to the library and the other half is supporting missionary work. Chase noted his niece Rebecca Comeau and her friend Amanda Corbin have been in Belize in Central America to establish a Christian school and orphanage for under-privileged children.
"They loved it and they can't wait to go back," Chase said. "For my niece, I think it was the work she was born to do."
Supporting the library is also important to Chase who admits he's a "voracious" reader.
"The library is very important to me. It's a great place to meet old friends," he noted.
On a leaflet he produced to accompany his walking stick display, Chase noted the library is a "one stop shop" for broadening knowledge, pursuing self-improvement and fuelling the imagination.
"I feel the library is a very valuable institution," he stated. "What a place for self improvement from A to Z - anything you have questions about."
Just as the library provides reading material to pass the winter hours, Case's walking sticks provide a creative outlet in the snowy season. The sticks may be gathered during summer walks but they find their true calling during the chilly days when Chase toils in his workshop.
"I usually make them in bunches of 10," he explained.
Once the sticks are finished, Chase said he gives each one a little test walk to make sure it feels comfortable. A great feeling of satisfaction comes from seeing his creations take shape and he likes it even more when someone else gives his walking sticks a new home and purpose.
"I just enjoy doing them and seeing other people enjoy them," he affirmed.
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