[Editor’s Note: A year ago, the great DIYer Wafflebored created some spectacular DIY tree ornaments shaped like hockey goalie catching gloves, which he sent out as holiday gifts. This year he’s back with ornaments based on his namesake — old-fashioned waffleboard goalie blockers. As always, his work is super-fun and super-inspiring. Enjoy! — PL]
Author: Waffleboad
When I made a decorative set of leather goalie gloves last year, I designed them to be flat, two-dimensional items so they would be easier to mail in a regular envelope. It was a lot of fun, especially since I had just learned how to work with leather.
This year I wanted to go a little further and create a completely three-dimensional piece. It made the most sense to drill all the holes in a classic leather goalie blocker. This is my favorite example of sporting goods aesthetics and I love the look. (I was lucky that the design didn't trigger for some reason) trypophobia, can affect me sometimes. )
One of the biggest design challenges was how to drill the holes. In a typical blocker like the Cooper model that many pros wore, the holes were all perfectly aligned. I tried using a cardboard template to guide the placement of the holes, but there was still too much room and my early attempts looked terrible. Then I realized there was a particular style of blocker that was perfect for this project.
From the late 1950s to the mid-60s, many goalies wore blockers with Olympic, Lippmann, and Tool Shop labels. This shoe hails from Detroit and was worn by Terry Sawchuk, Roger Crozier, and many other Red Wings goalies. Apparently, a blocker face was added to the existing glove. For example, in this example a blocker face has been added to his CCM glove (I got this information from a YouTuber with a very interesting channel called CooperGoalie).
This style was perfect for my project because the hole placement was less strict and more forgiving. Also, the blocker's face and cuffs are one piece, and the cuffs wrap around the back, making it much easier to figure out how to keep everything neat and tidy while adding the glove section.
Unlike later designs, these blockers had eyelets all over the bottom of the board instead of just the top, adding a lot of nice detail to your project. Similar to last year's catching gloves, I used small eyelets normally used on doll clothes.
Below is a look at the early stages of the project.
I attached an eyelet to the face of the blocker and threaded the waxed thread through the eyelet before gluing it to the back of the glove. I made the thumb and fingers from there and attached them. The cuff conveniently covered the unfinished ends of the fingers and thumb. (If you say it with your thumb, “WSP” stands for Wafflebored Sports Projects.)
Most blockers were dyed tan and aged in dark brown antique gel. These blockers were made before it was fashionable to match team colors, but in honor of the project's Detroit roots, I decided to make the blockers all red.
For the last one, I came up with the idea of incorporating jersey design elements into the blocker's face. This light blue jersey is based on his 1967 Penguins jersey, one of my favorites of his.
I might try this idea more in the future. But for now, the vintage goalie blocker project is complete.
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Paul, I'm here. Let's give a standing O to the great Wafflebored who proves once again that he is the king of DIYers.
As you may have noticed in some of the photos, Wafflebored created the Uni Watch blocker as part of this project. I'm left-handed, so I'm left-handed too! He was kind enough to send it to me along with a more general blocker.
Unfortunately, I don't have a Christmas tree (if I did, the waffles and biscuits would knock it over in no time). But on Thursday she will be participating in a tree cutting festival at her house with E and her family, so on Friday I will add blockers to her tree and share her photos. Understood!
