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Goats R Russ!

I make handcrafted dancing goat limberjacks. WHAT IS A LIMBERJACK? A limberjack is a loose-limbed dancing doll. This toy probably originated in 16th century Europe when a seated street performer attached a string from his knee to a jointed wooden toy and by jiggling made it dance on a board. A wooden stick replaced the string sometime in 19th century England. In Appalachia, these traditional toys are often hand-carved with a stick in the back. The manipulator, keeping time to a lively fiddle tune, taps on a narrow flexible wooden board. The vibrating board makes the doll appear to do a clackety mountain clog dance. A skillful handler can make this toy an effective rhythm instrument.rnrnOriginally mountain craftsmen whittled these “jacks” into shapes which were held together with pieces of wire. I use power tools and eye hooks to create my uniquely painted handcrafted Appalachian limberjacks. Each limberjack comes with a paddle board. Although my specialty is limberjack goats in a variety of colors, I also make hippos, limber jacks and jills, ponies, chickens, opossums, elephants, flamingos, lion, zebra, giraffe, assorted dogs, pigs, and llamas! rnrn