[Claude]

This is my 1000th post on WCI forums, so I thought I'd try to do a little something different, for me, and provide some ideas/techniques for others as a tutorial. This is a little snowman pin that I made for my wife, originally, and have subsequently made many times over for others. Hopefully my lack of skill in photography won't prevent you all from figuring out this simple little carving. You've got 18 days to make one for a stocking stuffer!!

Materials:
a piece of basswood roughly 2 inches tall, 1 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick, but anything is close.
acrylic paints: white, black, orange, and something for the hatband
water-based satin varnish
3/4 inch long piece of 1/8 inch dowel
1 inch bar pin (from any craft store)

1) a piece of scrap wood, around 1/4 thick, by 2 inch tall, by 1 inch wide
2) draw the pattern on the piece of wood. I made my pattern on a piece of card stock so I can just trace around it. You can draw it free-hand.
3) start to trim away the waste wood - be careful to take tiny slices near the hat brim.
4) the basic blank after waste wood is removed.
5) side view just to show you the scrap doesn't have to be perfect.

[Claude]

6) score the hat brim and neck lines about 1/16 inch deep
7) begin to remove the waste wood from the hat and face
8) continue the removal so the hat top and brim become round
9) begin to cut in the neck line
10) side view showing the rounded hat and neckline

[Claude]

11) begin to round off the body of the snowman
12) continue to round off the body until any no saw marks remain
13) round off the edges of the hat brim slightly so they won't catch on someone's clothing
14) using a fine brush, begin painting the white part of the carving
15) completed painting of the white

[Claude]

16) next, paint the hat. I've used black on this one, but I've also used brown, dark blue, etc.... your choice.
17) drill out a 1/8 inch hole in the center of the face, about 1/8 inch deep
18) using some Elmer's glue, or whatever you have, glue in a 3/4 inch long piece of 1/8 inch dowel
19) after the glue dries, carve to a carrot shape with length appropriate to the face.
20) cut off the tip of a round toothpick about 1/4 inch from the end; cut another toothpick tip off about 1/2 inch from the end. These will give you a large and small dot when painting.

[Claude]

21) use the smaller tipped toothpick, dip it into a drop of black paint and touch the face where you want the eyes and mouth to appear. Use the thicker-tipped toothpick to make the larger dots for the buttons.
22) these are the pin backs I used - you can get these or similar ones from any craft store. These are 1 inch long. Make sure the catch works before epoxying it onto the carving!!
23) paint a thin hat band on the hat
24) this is the completed painting of the carving. After letting the paint dry over night, I covered the carving, both sides, with satin-finish water-based varnish and let dry. Sign the back of the carving. I've found it's easier to use a plain old ball point pen after the varnish has been applied. Add a bit more varnish to seal the signature, and let dry. I then put the pin back on the carving, and pencil a mark where each hole of the pin back is located. I then use my Dremel with a 1/8 inch round burr to make a small indentation in the back at each dot, to allow the epoxy to better "grab onto" the wood.
25) mix up some 5 minute epoxy. Use equal amounts of both parts of the epoxy, resin and hardener, and stir for 2 minutes. Put some on the back of the carving, place the pin on top of the epoxy and press into place, then add a bit more epoxy, smearing it across the holes in the pin back, to make sure the pin back will be locked in place.

[Claude]

And the final photo:
26) this shows the epoxy smeared across the pin back. Don't forget to sign your work!!

I hope this is clear enough to everyone...if it isn't, please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification.

Claude

[brushpilecarvings]

Claude,

Great tutorial. It's layed out very well and easy to follow.

[feb]

Very nice claude, i just might start one tonight. Feb

[Lightningbolt]

Thanks for the step by step directions and a nice little project. These would make a perfect gift for the people that I work with too.

Congratulations on your 1,000th post and I'm not too far off myself!

[wood-whittler]

claude,

great work on the tutorial, layed out very nice and easy to follow.


bart