Bespoke Witch Weathervanes

 

Our witch weathervane, pictured above, has been really popular for a couple of years. We’ve created several variations on it including swapping the cat for a dog or even a rabbit, adding in a cauldron and changing the angle of the broom. So I wasn’t suprised when we had an enquiry asking if we could put four witches on the broomstick rather that one. When our customer first suggested the idea, I could not imagine how we’d make it work in terms of the balance point, never mind it looking good as well. Thankfully he’d given us plenty of time so we were able to go away and think about it for a week or so…

 

The majority of our weathervanes are balanced by an arrow cut in 8mm steel, and on our standard witch, the cat acts as this counterbalance to the profile. Here, we have cut the 4th witch in thicker steel instead, with a cauldron to seperate her from her sisters.

 

Below shows the finished result (which both we and the customer LOVE), plus how we got to the end result. It was actually loads of fun. We decided that rather than trying for hours to draw what I wanted from my imagination, it would be much quicker if I posed in the stance I wanted and drew around the silhouette. So a tuesday morning of dressing up a little bit witchy and posing on a bar stool in our kitchen and we had all the research needed for the design! I’ve added a few warts and bigger noses to the ladies, plus made the hats more pointy than mine, and they look like they are having a great time. The significance of the design is that it was as a gift for a lady who is one of four sisters, a great idea to celebrate a special birthday.