Tuesday, March 9, 2010

"Trudging" Chalkware Santa


Here's a classic Chalkware Santa, trudging through the snow, pack of toys on his back. Although I did a few hundred of this fellow for the (now defunct) Faith Mountain catalog several years ago, he remains one of my favorites!

Monday, March 8, 2010

"He Knows If You've Been Bad or Good..."


This very detailed Santa is sculpted entirely of polymer clay (with the exception of his bottle-brush tree and German glass glitter on the base); no molds were used. I used plain white Sculpey, and then painted him in acrylics. He stands approximately 11" tall. (Sold)

Santa "Gourd Folk"


Gourds are often a challenge for me...they have to be sought out (usually piled high on some farmer's wagon),taken home, soaked, scrubbed (and scrubbed, and scrubbed) then dried, and sometimes spackled and sanded before even the base coat of paint can go on...and I'm impatient when it comes to beginning a project, even if it later calls for a lot of patience in the details. Even so, gourds are such unique "canvases", and they take paint beautifully after the surface is properly prepared ~ each is definitely one-of-a-kind!

My "Gourd Folk" came about after drying some of the small crook-necked gourds; they were the perfect size for Santa ornaments (these are the kind found at the grocery store in the fall; most of the small ornamental gourds will become moldy mush, but the green and orange crook-necked ones will dry in the oven on the lowest temperature). I then went on to bigger gourds, but Santa designs have remained a favorite. ♥