Sunday, December 2, 2012

Barn Wood Santa - DCC Blog Hop

This month's Blog Hop
features Handmade craft ideas!


I have so many works-in-progress,
I literally had to search through my
hundreds of photos and figure
out which project I could blog about -
considering I have spent more
hours in a smelly, noisy gym than out
in the past two weeks. 

Keep in mind, when I'm in the gym,
I'm watching my kids play ball,
not painting or taking pics or blogging.
(and I certainly wouldn't want you to think
I was actually working out at the gym)
I don't really do that.

So before I head to the gym again
tomorrow morning, to not work out, I thought I'd share
this little barn wood Santa I made.


 I really liked these planks of barn wood.


While they did require a heavy hand
with the wire brush, they didn't have many
nails that had to be removed.
So I could clean them quicker and get
on with my instant-gratification fix.
;)


Materials List:
Wood Plank
Power Drill & 1/8" Drill Bit
Baling Wire (12" length)
Fabric Scraps or Tulle
for bows
Acrylic Paints:
Flesh, Red, White, Black
Brown, Light Green, Dark Green
Metallic Gold
Sponge Roller, Paint Brush
Pink Powder Blush
Cotton Swabs
Oil Based Wood Stain
or sealer of choice
Clean Rag (to apply stain)
Sanding Block 
Tracing Paper (for pattern)
Transfer Paper
Stylus

I squeezed some white acrylic paint onto
a paper plate and used a sponge
roller to apply several coats of paint to the
planks.  I didn't paint all the way
to the edges - I wanted some of the barn
wood to show through.


I drilled two small holes in the top
corners of each plank,
so I could thread some wire through for
hanging when I finished.

 I made a pattern by sketching out
a skinny Santa face onto
a piece of tracing paper; and I
transferred the pattern to each plank
using a stylus and transfer paper.


 I painted the hats and suits with
red acrylic paint, and the hat brims and
beards with another coat of white paint.
I painted the faces flesh tone.


Next, I shaded around the beards with
a chocolate brown paint, and I shaded
underneath the hat brims with
a golden brown paint.


To give the cheeks a little color,
I used a cotton swab and pink powder blush.


Next, I painted three holly leaves
onto the bottom of each Santa plank.

The green paint over the red paint
never really achieves opacity;
but I've noticed with experience that
once you've shaded and highlighted each
leaf, the blotchy base coat actually
looks really good.


I shaded around each holly leaf with
chocolate brown paint.

Next, I shaded the lower and left sides
of each leaf, and then highlighted
the top and right sides of
each leaf with a lighter green paint.

 I used a liner brush and metallic gold paint
to add swirly stems and curls.
I added metallic gold and red dip dots.


I used my hand sander to remove some
of the paint from each plank,
then dotted the eyes and highlighted
the tops of the noses.
I shaded under the mustaches.


I stained each piece with an oil based stain.


I added a jingle bell to the hat
by painting a 1" flat wood circle with
metallic gold paint, outlining with
black paint and a thin liner brush,
and then attaching it to the hat with a
1/2" nail.  I added some white
outlines on the beard, the mustache,
and the eyebrows.
I threaded some baling wire through the
holes I'd drilled earlier, and curled
the ends to secure the hanger.


I added a tulle bow.
Then another.
Oh, why not three?!

HO HO HO
Barnwood Santa!

I've set him aside as a hostess gift!


 Use the link at the top of this post
to go through the hop
and check out more Handmade craft ideas!


~ Peace and Happy Painting ~

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great way to use barnwood! You can't even tell that is what these cuties originally were. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!

Anonymous said...

You most definitely have a unique & vibrant eye. I love the implied movement and the liveliness that you impart with just a few strokes of your brush. Thanks for sharing your talent and ideas with the world.

Meg said...

...thank you so much for posting this tutorial.. I had so much fun painting with my son's girl friend on Black Friday!! YOUR blog is amazing... I have posted a link to your blog from mine!! Thanks again!!
Meg... Craftberry.blogspot.com