Snowy Santa Carving

[Alan Malmstrom]

I got a new pattern on the Pattern Depot that is only $10. http://store.carvewright.com/product...69&cat=&page=6

I carved the pattern on a 7.25 inch wide, 12 inch long and .75 inch deep piece of red oak. I cut the edges of the carving with my Rockwell Bladerunner scrolling saw then used some Sabretooth Burr Bitts to shape the outer contours. Then I sanded using various sanding products and painted red, green and white using Real Milk Paints that I bought in trial sizes. I mix these paints using mineral spirits diluting them enough to be able to see through to the wood almost like a dye but these are mineral pigments. The colors are great for matching wood stain colors. I used the big plastic rotary brush to smash in the end grain to prevent it from darkening the ends. Then I sprayed on polyurethane so that it would dry fast without smudging the paints followed by a coat of brushed on polyurethane. Then I spray painted some dark brown spray paint for plastics and immediately rubbed off the excess using a rag with mineral spirits to give it an antique look. Doing this brought out a lot of detail of the carving.

[TerryT]

Now that is COOL! Great work Alan.

[SharonB]

I'll take one please..... What a great project. Love the way in which your painting technique made the project look like it has been around for years and years.

[zan29]

Now that is very nice Alan, I love the paint job!

[smurfjeep]

What a great looking piece, and thank you for sharing your finishing techniques!

[lynnfrwd]

Very nice, Alan. I like that a lot!

[Gary Koval]

Yeah, what Smurfjeep said, beautiful job.Gary

[RogerB]

Alan Very nice .That is one anybody would love for the Holidays.

[Alan Malmstrom]

I'll take one please..... What a great project. Love the way in which your painting technique made the project look like it has been around for years and years.

It does look old. I was reading the can of dark brown plastic paint before I bought it and it said that you can wipe off the excess using mineral spirits so I thought I'd give it a try. Since the polyurethane is laid down first the project can retain the brighter colors of the wood more than if you were to use gel stain. And it's much more permanent than using wax powder to achieve the antique look.

The process is actually pretty easy. The paints don't have to be perfect because the dark brown covers all the cracks and crevices anyway. Over all it only took less than two hours to finish minus the drying time in between.