Okay, apparently some clarification needs to be done...this is probably more suited to the "General Announcements" discussion, but here goes...
I've been diagnosed with colon cancer. I'm not in the hospital yet but I'll be going in on the 23rd. The cancer is definitely operable, it's mostly clustered around the sigmoid and appendix and those will be coming out, along with my lymph nodes.
I'm taking a forward-thinking outlook to the whole thing and not letting myself get into a funk over it; so if I seem to be overly glib or flippant about it, apologies, and know that I'm taking this almost literally deadly seriously. I just have a game face on
Not aggressing — just that's the closest emoticon that we have to a fiercely-grinning, psyched-for-battle wolf.
Now, on to the cuckoo clock...
I did some brainstorming last night. I'm visualizing a sort of glockenspiel-type thing with figures of wolves chasing a deer. There will be some elements of birch trees, maybe support pillars along the sides. I'm seeing dovetail joints.
I'll probably work in furniture-quality birch or perhaps walnut, but cuckoo clocks are traditionally made of linden and I'll check with my supplier to see if I can get that. It's thin wood, 1/4", so one sheet will probably be plenty for me to work with and I expect I can get at least three out of a 4x4' sheet of 1/4" solid. Cedar would be nice but it's pretty fragile, not very structural; maybe I'll make the tail/pendulum with that, since it won't be weight-bearing like the casing will. In all likelihood I won't carve the wolf's head, that'll probably be cast wood (resin impregnated with sawdust — looks like wood, not plastic).
We have a master clocksmith/clock museum in town here and I'm going over there later today to see how feasible it is to get a single, longer bellows made to emulate the wolf howl. I'll also price out how much the movements will be.
At first blush, the size will probably be 8" deep x 8" wide x 12" tall, not including the pendulum and weights. The glockenspiel will stick out a couple inches at the base of the faceplate.