Hand Carved Snowman Ornament Tutorial

[ten99j4]

It’s beginning to look like Christmas time again and therefore carvers are changing their focus towards carving Christmas ornaments, snowmen and santas. One of my favorite Christmas time carvings is to carve some really simple hand carved snowman ornaments to hang on our Christmas tree. If you like carving or are just beginning to show an interest, try out this simple beginner wood carving project.
Start by finding a branch that is about 1″ in diameter and about 4″ long. For best results, allow the branch to dry naturally for a few weeks. If you don’t time to wait, place the branch in a warm, dry place for at least a day. Trim the branch flush on both ends and remove the bark. Now divide the stick into three sections (2″ piece, 1 1/2″ piece and 1 1/4″ piece). After this process, the three pieces should look similar to this:

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It is now time to begin rounding the ends of the pieces with a series of slightly angled cuts until you reach the desired roundness. The pieces should now look something like this:




Now that the pieces are cleaned up and rounded, you are ready to round up three toothpicks and use a drill with small drill bit to drill some holes. Choose a drill bit that will allow for a hole that is just big enough for the toothpick to easily move through the hole but not leave extra room around the toothpick.

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Now drill a hole into the middle of the 2″ piece laid length wise and half way through the piece. Do the same with the 1 1/4″ piece and then drill all the way through the 1 1/2″ piece. Test the hole by running one of the toothpicks through the 1 1/2″ piece to ensure that it will move freely. Now trim the toothpick so that it will insert into the other two pieces (one on each side of the 1 1/2″ piece) and not leave any gap between the pieces. This is how the snowman will connect together and we will secure it in place shortly. This is what it will look like at this point:

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With the snowman still constructed, use a pencil and mark where the nose hole needs to be drilled and then one mark on each end of the 1 1/2″ piece to note the holes for the arms. Now drill into the spots that you just marked, approximately 1/4″. The following picture shows the holes drilled in the recommended spots.

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At this point, you are ready to disassemble the snowman and paint the individual pieces white. No need to paint the trimmed toothpick that is used to secure the body. Paint one of the other toothpicks black and the other remaining toothpick orange. After the paint is dry, cut the black toothpick in half and then trim the orange toothpick to the desired length of the nose. You now have all the pieces cut, painted and ready to assemble.

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Now using a hot glue gun or your preferred type of glue, re-assemble the snowman like you did previously and glue the toothpick in place. Now using the divided black toothpick, glue them in place for the arms and glue the orange nose piece into the face. At this point, you can use black paint to designate the eyes, mouth and buttons, but I prefer to use a wood burning iron to burn these features into the snowman. This is what your snowman should look like when completed:



Note that the above picture also shows an eye in the top of the snowman for hanging it on the Christmas tree. You can use a regular fish hook and cut the off about 1/8″ below the eye and then insert it into the top of the snowman. If it does not want to stay, you may have to use a small amount of glue to secure it in place.
Congratulations!!! You just completed a simple wood carving project that you can be proud to display on your Christmas tree. A word of warning though, others will want one when they see it.

For a PDF formatted version of this tutorial, click here:

Hand Carved Snowman Ornament Tutorial

[rickm]

now that isa great idea!!!! simple and accurate for a snowman

[BobBlaney]

Wonderful and quick tutorial. A nice project as Christmas remembrances. Date the snowman on the bottom and add your name.

[BobBlaney]

A very nice and quick tutorial. Would make great Christmas presents. Add your name date on the bottom with the burner.