Wooden Santa Claus

Find out how to make a Santa Claus out of wood. This Wooden Santa Claus is an ingenious way to use up any old barn wood. Scan through these craft instructions to find out how far a little paint and sealer will take you. It's a lot easier than it looks and by the end you'll be thrilled to have a new Santa. This is one of those DIY projects which will give you a great decoration every Christmas.





Materials:

• 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

Instructions:

• Squeeze some white acrylic paint onto a paper plate and use a sponge roller to apply several coats of paint to the planks. Don't paint all the way to the edges so that the barn wood can show through.
  
  
   
• Drill two small holes in the top corners of each plank, so you can thread some wire through for hanging when finished.
  
  
   
• Make a pattern by sketching out a skinny Santa face onto a piece of tracing paper; and transfer the pattern to each plank using a stylus and transfer paper.
  
  
   
• Paint the hats and suits with red acrylic paint, and the hat brims and beards with another coat of white paint. Paint the faces flesh tone.
  
  
   
• Next, shade around the beards with a chocolate brown paint, and I shade underneath the hat brims with a golden brown paint.
  
  
   
• To give the cheeks a little color, use a cotton swab and pink powder blush.
  
  
   
• Next, paint three holly leaves onto the bottom of each Santa plank. The green paint over the red paint never really achieves opacity; but once you've shaded and highlighted each leaf, the blotchy base coat actually looks really good.
  
  
   
• Shade around each holly leaf with chocolate brown paint.
  
  
   
• Next, shade the lower and left sides of each leaf, and then highlight the top and right sides of each leaf with a lighter green paint.
  
  
   
• Use a liner brush and metallic gold paint to add swirly stems and curls. Add metallic gold and red dip dots.
  
  
   
• Use a hand sander to remove some of the paint from each plank, then dot the eyes and highlight the tops of the noses. Shade under the mustaches.
  
  
   
• Stain each piece with an oil based stain.
  
  
   
• Add 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 attach it to the hat with a 1/2" nail. Add some white outlines on the beard, the mustache, and the eyebrows. Thread some baling wire through the holes you drilled earlier, and curl the ends to secure the hanger.
  
  
   
• Add a tulle bow.