When Sonoma County woodworker Jim Heimbach found out his son and daughter-in-law were expecting their first kid, and he himself had no commissions at the moment, he decided to make them a cradle. And he was inspired by his daughter-in-law's Norwegian heritage--and the movie The Legend of Roan Inish--to make a cradle shaped like a Viking longboat.
The cradle, designed and produced in Claro walnut, was not completed before the kid was, so it only saw a couple of months' use. Instead of what, three months? Come on, people, this is a cradle we're talking about! The most useless thoughtful piece of furniture in the entire kid furniture repertoire!
But that's OK, because they're having another kid, and the cradle's been saling around picking up awards at fairs and woodworking competitions and such, and Heimbach has refined it by adding rare earth magnets in the base to keep it from rocking too much. And now it's available to order for like $9000 and change. You'll want to watch the lead time.
And you're all done with babies you can light it on fire and send it out into the lake, Viking-style.
Lake County wood artist's Viking-inspired cradle wows [pressdemocrat via AJ of thingamababy, bring that sucker back!]
The Story of "An Enchanted Cradle" [workerinwood.com]
