Greetings to all...

I was gifted a box of three vintage houses, four pine cone pixies and a small Santa figurine for Christmas 2020…all the pieces were in need of varying levels of repair and restoration…which I thoroughly enjoyed doing!…

I knew at once that the Santa figurine was something I had to reproduce…I think the photos and these details will help you make your own version…

BODY…2 ½” tall rolled card stock cone…1” diameter at base…slit in the body 1” from the pointed top that cuts the body almost in half…this slit is for the arm wire to slide into…

LEGS…rolled paper tubes about 5/8“ long…you can see the paperclip wire armature, base, feet, legs and cardboard oval in the photo…

ARMS…rolled paper tubes…each approximately 1 ½” long…glued to paperclip armature wire with about 1/2” space between them…cut to a more realistic length after being bent at the elbow and posed…

FACE…mine is a reproduction…I made a modeling clay push mold from a vintage original, cast several using Durham putty then painted the facial details…

http://www.waterputty.com/durham.html

http://www.waterputty.com/casting.html

Note…forum member, Pete Oehmen, has small Santa faces available…you can contact him at oehmen@sbcglobal.net for more information…

BODY FINISH…primer, red craft paint and extra fine grain red sand…green craft paint for mittens…

LEGS AND BASE…primer, black and white craft paint plus glitter on white base…

FINAL DETAILS…(I'll be posting pictures of the competed project later so these details will make sense then)...white felt trim…black paper belt…buckle is square of yellow card stock with black square glued in center…beard is natural wool rove…beard is a little tricky to glue in place but a damp toothpick certainly helps…

Note…the body cavity of the vintage figure was lightly stuffed with crumpled tissue paper from the top of the oval on the leg sub assembly to the tip of the cone…I did the same thing to mine…but I had to poke small holes in the crumpled tissue for the two lengths of leg armature wire to slide into…

Stay tuned...I'll be posting pictures of my completed figurine later...note...the same techniques used to make this Santa figurine will also be used to make another Santa figurine project within a couple of months...2021 looks like it's going to be a productive crafting year...

I wonder what my version will look like in 50 to 60+ years?…I hope it will age gracefully...

Howard…

This is SO cute, Howard, and just the sort of thing I need to do whilst waiting for "Snowmageddon"!! Thanks for all the details, I thought I would have to model the face but realize I actually have one in my supplies.

Thank you for the inspiration!

Barb

Barb wrote:This is SO cute, Howard, and just the sort of thing I need to do whilst waiting for "Snowmageddon"!! Thanks for all the details, I thought I would have to model the face but realize I actually have one in my supplies.

Thank you for the inspiration!

Barb

He's so "quaint"...just a baby step above "primitive"...have fun making him...the proportions I've shown are just the ones I used...anything close will be perfect...

Note...I should have mentioned this in the original post...I used several applications of Aleene's(R) Original Tacky Glue(R) to fill in and mold the joints where the arms meet the body...

And if you like this project...I know you'll really like the other one I'm working on that uses the exact same techniques...just in larger size...

Howard...

update...2-5-2021...

here is my finished version of the rolled card stock cone Santa posed by the vintage original for comparison...i imagine he'll age over the years and mellow out...red pigments just seem to really fade...i really need to put a small tree in one of his hands...

howard...

Howard, this is wonderful! Where did you get the face casting from?

Lee wrote:Howard, this is wonderful! Where did you get the face casting from?

About the face...it's a reproduction casting…I made a modeling clay push mold from an original face that was salvaged from a vintage Santa and cast duplicates for future projects using Durham putty...then painted the facial details…

http://www.waterputty.com/durham.html

http://www.waterputty.com/casting.html

Note…forum member, Pete Oehmen, has small Santa faces available…you can contact him at oehmen@sbcglobal.net for more information…

Howard...

Thanks for the putty product recommendation.
p.s. this is wonderful

Awesome Santa Howard! May I kindly ask what you used for the coat and hat trim? Looks like true vintage fashion!

Clinton...

I used some very old white felt for the trim...it's not a pure white but looks that way in the pictures...it had "aged" a little from being in storage...I almost "aged" it a little more by soaking in very weak tea...but the red dyed sand was so vivid I just used it as it was...

Howard...

Thank you so much Howard for your reply. I need to build this little guy!