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.htmlhttp://www.waterputty.com/casting.htmlNote…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…