Rowan's Round of Days

Sent here by herbmcsidhe in response to something I posted in a Craft community on LJ:

Me:
Is there anywhere online, or in book form, a design for building a 'Obby 'Oss?

I know a fair number of Morris dancers in the Boston area, and their style of Hobby Horse is not what I'm looking to create. I do not want something that looks like a carousel horse that hangs at waist level on the wearer.

I'm looking to build something like the Old Obby Oss of Padstow.

In Boston, every year on 1 May, the Morris sides and revelers come out to greet the dawn. They are NOW met by Harvard students who hold a formal (black tie and white tie) ball on 30 April until dawn, toasting the dawn with champagne; we all meet in a receiving line which was dubbed "the Appollonians receive the Dionysians" this year.

I'd like to have something like the Padstow Oss for next year - not an exact duplicate of its face - that's too much.

Any suggestions?

herbmcsidhe:A description of the one used in the SF Bay area is at http://www.conjure.com/TRINE/hobbyhrs.html. I don't remember if Russell is on LJ, but you can likely contact him through rowanf for help with construction questions.