What's "cute"?

[Cottonwood]

A while back a lady customer ask me to carve a Santa Face Ornament that had to have one very important feature,.....it must be "cute". After talking to her for awhile, I came to the conclusion that probably her idea of "cute" would be the exact opposite of what Lynn O. Doughty would consider "cute", but with that in mind I set out to get some ideas that would qualify a carving to be considered "cute" by her.

I remembered a craft show that I had attended a few years before that I felt might have a few examples of "cute". Sure enough, after walking through the show, I was convinced that these articles were so sweet and "cute" that most of them would send a sugar diabetic to the hospital! I tried my best to make some preliminary adaptions in a few of my carvings to add an element of "cute". So, here they are. Do we have anything near "cute" here?

[Claude]

Millard:
Here are my impressions, what the little they are worth.
1) Wise
2) Skeptical
3) Fake laugh: "Sure, yeah, right, of course you've been good..."
4) Cute, maybe.... I'll ask my wife - she defines cute for me...

Claude

[Donsexton]

Man that is some fine work I enjoy looking at your art.

[gtech]

I checked with Google for cute carvings and nothing people called cute fitted what I consider cute.

What I think is considered cute is something you want to hug, like a Teddy Bear, a young cat or dog.

A cute Santa? I never saw one...

Added:

Ok, I just found this Urban Dictionary: cute and it gave me an idea... A baby Santa would be cute...

Or this, which they call cute.



I think you need a big smile, without showing the teeth. And eyes should be a bit behind bigger cheeks.

[bigEd_H]

Those are some fine looking santas, Millard, excellent job on all of them. I think Claude covered it well.

[gene-messer]

Millard .. cute yes .. but simple ? No ! .. excellent each one of them .. the expressions and look are wonderful .. your Santa work is some of the best I have ever seen

Gene

[mpounders]

Man, I'd just show her all of them and let her pick. Then nod your head wisely and tell her that you also thought THAT one was really the cutest but you just didn't want to influence her decision too much! Cute is always a personal definition and I have come to a conclusion that the female perspective has many complex and mysterious methods for making that decision. I have attempted to accelerate the shopping process by alerting my wife and daughter to shoes that I consider "cute" and they just shake their heads at my ignorance!

[doris]

nice santa´s, noone is cute for me... cute is obtained by, big eyes, big head, very small tipped up nose, small roundish mouth, often eyebrows only faint, whole face low on head (eyebrows under the middle line, so eyes even deeper,,,not on middle line like on adults), so that a big forehead appears...think baby and you are much closer to get cute...all santas are nice though

[Dileon]

Cute is normal define as possessing physical features, behavior, personality traits or properties that are mainly attributed to infants, and small or cuddly animals. Disney has its own definition of cute and they have pretty well stuck to that format, which can be found easy in a search. I say the last one....but never know each person is different, ....that is a hard one. But I really like your work.... Di

[Cottonwood]

Claude, I have a whole box full of wood spirits with different experessions. Your expertise would be just the thing that is needed to assign an emotion or character quality to them.

Don, Ed and Gene, thanks for the encouraging remarks. They give me a boost.

Mike, I agree, "cute" is an enigma that the male mind will not ever fully comprehend....unless you are some one gifted like,say, Disney.

Doris, Di and gtech, thanks for your input. Today I'll try a combination of your suggestions and see what happens.

Stay tuned, "cute" is gonna rise again !