Sieffen

Wednesday is overcast for our day trip to Sieffen.  A visit to this town is like stepping into toytown.  The area is famous for its wooden toys and Christmas decorations.  Originally a tin mining area, as the tin deposits dried up the locals began producing wooden toys.  The nearby forests providing a ready supply of wood.  We visited the Toy Museum which traced the evolution of the industry since the 17^th century to the present day.  One great innovation in the 18^th century was to develop “ring carving”.  It’s difficult to explain but I’ll try.  A ring of wood is carved on both sides using a lathe.  When carving is completed, the wooden ring is sliced to reveal the toy.  About 40 items can be sliced from a single ring.  We saw many different animals, buildings and people which were carved using this method – bulk production in a cottage industry.  The shops specialize in all manner of wooden toys and blocks and intricately carved and painted Christmas decorations.  We also saw wooden chandeliers which are designed to be used with candles, some chandeliers are over a metre long and have hundreds of painted wooden balls.  Another specialty is the Christmas Pyramid, which can be anything from 10cm to 2metres high.  These pyramids are topped by a set of fan blades which are rotated by the hot air produced by a number of candles.  The fan blades in turn drive a central wooden shaft which causes the scenes on the various levels of the pyramid to rotate.  Many of the shops have a children’s play area with wooden toys and blocks to keep children occupied while adults can shop in peace.

The town also has many larger wood carvings in the parks and along the paths.  This town is very popular with tourists in the lead up to Christmas celebrations with busloads of tourists arriving at that time.  The cold snowy winter climate with the nearby forests and colourful decorations would make it very pretty.