Carving both sides of Christmas Ornaments?

[Dkulhanek]

I am working away at getting enough stock built up so that I can sell my wares at some upcoming Christmas bazaars. After asking around, my friends said that they would most like to see me come out with a line of different chip carved crosses. As I have been working day and night on these for the past couple of weeks, my wife said to me the other night that maybe I should have more stuff there than just the crosses. I told her that I didn't have much time to carve a bunch of other stuff with the holiday season just around the corner. She suggested that since I had half a million different patterns for ornaments to whip up a bunch of them and put them on a 4 ft tall Christmas tree on the display table for people to buy. I thought that was a great idea but wanted some additional feedback. Do I carve just one side of the ornament and leave the other blank, or carve both sides? I am afraid that the ornament wood that I have may be too thin to carve both sides, but thought I would get some feelers out there for what some of you have done in the past.

[bcournoyer]

I'm currently doing a bunch of Christmas ornaments to sell on my etsy shop. Since I'm doing it mainly for practice, I'm carving both sides, but I'm using 3/8" wood. I think it makes it seem more professional, but I don't think people would care if you carved only one side. It'll let you get more product out before your sale.

[kdispoto]

No rules - try both - see what happens.

[Robert Cahill]

I have seen some carved one side and a Christmas tree, or berries painted on the back. I thought they looked pretty nice.

[papasar]

I have chip carved many star ornaments and rounds from 1/4'' basswood. I only do one side since they lay flat on the tree. I keep the wood a honey color and they really stand out among the multi colored ornaments.
Bill K.

[Bob K.]

There's nothing wrong with doing just one side. I sell lots of them that are only carved on one side.

[Donna_T]

I don't carve both sides of ornaments, but I do make sure the back side is clean and neat. I usually extend the colors from the front all the way around to the back. It's important for ornaments to be sanded smooth, and no bumps, snags, roughness anywhere on them.

Once my ornaments are painted and sealed, I use either white scotchbrite to give them a once over to "smooth" them one final time, or use a piece of wadded up untreated brown paper bag to rub them down and smooth out any bumps. This not only gets rid of roughness, but give a luster or patina to the carving.

I always sign and number the back of ornaments. I like the idea of putting a small painted item on the back with my name and number--you know...holly leaf, flower, etc.

Donna_T