A 'crafty' woman
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on October 3, 2017 1:38 PM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Peggy Davis, 88, uses her scroll saw to create various items out of plywood.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Peggy Davis uses rubber cement to glue a pattern to a piece of wood before she saws it.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
These are some of the smaller wooden items that Peggy Davis has made.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Peggy Davis has made several small shelves that look like lace, which she has placed throughout her home.
A bonsai tree about 8 inches tall sits in the window. A kneeling soldier holds a rifle next to a cross. Flower pots with different kinds of flowers are lined up on a table.
None of these will ever fade away because they are all made out of plywood.
And their maker is 88-year-old Peggy Davis.
Peggy has been creating all kinds of things out of plywood for about 30 years now. When she saw her daughter doing it, she wanted to try her hand at it, too.
"It keeps me out of trouble," she said. "I've made just about everything."
That includes one of the hardest things she's ever made -- a bonsai tree. There are several little details that have to be carved out of the tree, which took Peggy about three hours to do, using her scroll saw.
"You have to take the blade out each time, put it back and tighten it up to carve all the little pieces inside the tree," she said.
"When I first saw the pattern, I said, 'I'm not going to make that' There were too many little places in it that you had to carve out."
But the longer Peggy looked at the pattern, the more unusual she thought that bonsai tree was. She thought no one else in Wayne County would have one. So she decided to try her hand at it.
"It was such a challenge that I just couldn't help myself," she said.
When her friends saw it, they called it the tree of life and the Cedar of Lebanon tree.
"People saw it and liked it," Peggy said. "So I said that's what I have to do, make stuff like that and not the old plain stuff."
One of her favorite pieces is the kneeling soldier. It's a soldier kneeling and holding a rifle in front of him beside a cross. At the bottom, Peggy carved out the words "never forgotten."
"I saw the pattern and since my husband was in the military and our church has a window dedicated to the military, I decided to make one," she said. "I made one for the church and several others. I gave one to my friend whose husband was in the military. She put it in her window."
Peggy also makes anniversary pieces out of wood. It's a heart with the number of anniversary in it. At the left is a place for you to put an anniversary photo.
Another item is a basket that hangs from a wooden piece. But it's no ordinary basket. It folds up from bottom to top to form one piece.
Peggy has made a variety of wooden flower pots with different kinds of flowers. Each fits into a wooden stand.
Some of the cutest things she's made are animals in a rocking chair. Each has its own baby that fits right in with the mama to form what looks like one piece. There are hippos, elephants and others.
Peggy has even dabbled in old cars, making a Studebaker 1903, a 1915 Ford Model T and a 1905 delivery van, all out of plywood.
"I just liked them," she said. "It's an old thing, older than me."
Look around her home and you'll find various styles and sizes of shelves on her walls. Each has an intricate pattern cut into it.
One of the more unusual wooden creations is a block of wood that's sort of like a puzzle. Other pieces of wood fit into it and you can take it out, but putting it back in is another thing as you have to be very precise to get it back in. Things you'll find inside a block include buts, a woman, a zebra, swans and even reindeer.
"There's a certain way the wood piece has to come out and a certain way it goes back in," Peggy said. "I wanted to make them because it was a challenge to see if I could do it."
Other items Peggy has made out of plywood are a doll bed, Jesus crosses, Jesus fish, holders to put business cards or photos in, angel ornaments for the tree and nativity sets.
One unusual cross she makes is an anchor cross. She said in days way back Christians carried an anchor cross so they wouldn't be found out as Christians.
Peggy doesn't have a certain time of day that she sits down to work at her scroll saw, which is in a little room off her living room.
"Sometimes I want to sit down at my scroll saw and make something instead of doing my housework," she said. "I go out in my little room and do my woodworking as often as I can. When it starts getting dark, I remember that I have to stop and feed my dog. Then I have to eat once in a while."
Not only does Peggy create things out of wood, but she has also dabbled in crocheting, making tablecloths, angels that stand about 8 inches tall with halos, tiny bears with arms and legs outstretched, doilies, dishcloths, hair scrunchies and ornaments for the tree. She even crocheted an afghan once.
Peggy bought a book and taught herself how to crochet.
When she and her husband were stationed in Alaska, Peggy made clay pottery using earthquake clay that has swirls of beige and light brown in it.
"They would have an earthquake and then would gather the clay they found after the earthquake," Peggy said.
She plans on having her wood and crocheted items at the St. Mary Church craft fair Oct. 14 in the school auditorium from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When she was younger, did Peggy ever dream that one day she'd been using a scroll saw and creating items of out wood?
Her answer, "Heck no. It makes me feel like I'm doing something that people are going to like. I say, 'Thank you, Lord, that I can do this.'"