They say you are never too old to learn something new.
And Perth pensioner Ally Annand, 75, proved this to be true when he decided to build an American-style log cabin out of lolly sticks four winters ago.
The 75-year-old was inspired to get crafty with the little wooden sticks after watching a tutorial on YouTube.
He was looking for a way to stay busy after retiring from his role as a porter at Perth Royal Infirmary.
“I just thought: ‘I’ll give a shot at that and see how I get on,'” he says.
Ally, who lives with his wife Joyce, bought a bag of 100 lolly sticks from a pound shop and got to work.
Since then he has created three impressive sculptures – a log cabin, a castle and an army jeep – all fitted out with doors, windows, and even lights.
Ally has always had an artistic streak. Before becoming a hospital porter, he worked with molten metal at Robertson and Robertson Perth foundry for several decades.
The dad-of-two also loved drawing cartoons as a child.
But it’s only in retirement he has had time to explore his creative side.
“When you’re younger, you don’t have time to do things like that because you’re always occupied by other things – football and swimming and stuff like that.”
‘You have got to keep yourself busy in retirement’
Plus, the unique craft keeps him busy.
“A lot of people are not keen on retiring because they’re going to have a lot of time on their hands,” he says.
“There’s no book that says: ‘Here’s how your retirement is going to be’.
“Because everybody’s retirement is different.
“But you have got to keep yourself occupied.
“I don’t think it is any good for anybody to have time on their hands.”
How lolly stick art helps Ally cope with the dark winter nights
The hobby also keeps his spirits high during the winter periods.
“I think it helps with your mental stress,” he says.
“Because the dark winter nights, especially for us in the northern hemisphere, can make people get a bit down and sad.
“I hate when we’ve to close the curtains at 4pm and you think you should be going to bed instead of having your evening meal.
“But the time just seems to pass by when you’re concentrating on doing something like building a sculpture.”
Is he entirely self-taught?
“There’s not really a lot to learn”, Ally laughs.
“You just have to have patience, because when you glue maybe five of these lolly pop sticks together, you can’t work with them until they’ve set.”
Patience is right. His sculpture of a castle – about three feet squared – took six months alone.
This was working for a few hours every evening during the winter.
What does the making process look like?
Ally talks me through the making process.
“Some of them have different levels,” he explains.
“So you make all the levels separately, and then you put them together once they’ve been done.”
He has also found nifty ways to create realistic features.
“For the chimney [on the log cabin] I mixed sawdust and white glue from the pound shop.
“I then spread it on and used a cocktail stick to scrape in lines for a brick-like effect.”
For windows, he repurposes plastic packaging from shop-bought items.
Meanwhile, doors are made from lolly sticks and made free to open and close with a strip of double-sided sticky tape on one side of the doorframe.
Ally adds: “On the castle, I left the roof to be able to come off, so I could put a little battery light inside that can light it up in the evening.”
He finishes each sculpture off with wood stain.
“With a hobby like this, you’re not doing it in a race or to get it done,” he says.
“You’re just doing it for the evenings.
“There’s no hurry, because nobody’s waiting on an order or anything.”
What sculptures will Ally make next?
Ally now plans to create another house, inspired by a garden ornament he picked up at the pound shop.
The Perth man is also keen to continue drawing. Right now he’s focusing on cartoons and portraits.
“You’ve got to be in the right mood,” he says.
“Because I’ve seen me do a drawing, and it doesn’t turn out the way I wanted, and I just crumple the paper up and put it in the bin.
“But it’s funny, because another time, maybe I’ll do a nice cartoon, and it turns out that even I’m impressed – I’ve impressed myself.
“I guess every day is different.”
Conversation