Monday, December 12, 2011

Hand Carved Ornaments

Every year we try to come up with a new design for a Christmas Ornament.  We give them to family and friends.  This year we made 64 ornaments.

Most of them have been delivered or are in the mail today.

We knew we wanted a spool ornament.  HOWEVER spools are hard to come by..we finally found a whole bunch in an Antique Shop but they were all hardwood.  Hardwood is very hard to carve.

Our Son In Law Handy Andy has a wood lathe and he was roped into the making of the spools.  These are basswood.  We worked long and hard carving on the spools. I can carve the face in about twenty minutes.  The first few took hours.

After they were carved they were painted. 

Flesh..white..red..eyes..and snow on their eyebrows and moustaches and finally antiqued. Christmas Ornament 2011

All were wood burned with the year.  I am pleased. They are not our greatest design..but they will do.

I have two extras that I made to give away. I will throw the names in a hat and I will draw one from the blogspot blog and one from the local area voices blog.  To enter just leave me a comment on todays blog.  I will draw a name on Wednesday night at 9PM and reveal the winners on Thursday and get them mailed out:)

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46 comments:

Country Gal said...

They are beautiful ! I love them Papa who is a wood worker would love these, he does scroling and a bit of chip carving but mainly he makes other things ! Papa has huge machine tools as well as very small tools he loves his lathe ! Wonderful Santa wood works guys ! Love your header ! If your interested in seeing Papas wood works you will find a link to his wood working blog on Our Country Cove he just started the blog not long ago ! Have a wonderful day !

Rita said...

How neat these are. I enjoy unique ornaments so much. Thank you are a chance to get one.

patty said...

I would love one of your ornaments! Would be my incentive to put up my tree.

laurie said...

WOW. so talented. and so creative!

kayceebeebee said...

Very nice! I thank you for the chance to win one of these adorable hand carved ornaments.

DJan said...

Since I won Aldo Leopold (just the best book in ages), and I don't put up a tree, I'll pass on the ornament and give others a chance to have a Connie gift. It's so adorable, though. I do hope your mom is beginning to feel better.

Anonymous said...

I love my spool santa. Thank you connie. You do such nice work. gw

Changes in the wind said...

These are great!

linda m said...

The ornaments are just beautiful, I would love to have one. You and Far Guy are so talented.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

I think they are wonderful and what a great idea.....

Enjoy

Nate Maas said...

I think these are great. They remind me of the ornaments we used to make when I was little only we didn't make them out of spools - great idea. What makes these so special is to see the variety of expressions on the ornaments.

Muffy's Marks said...

I love them, and would love to have one. You both have so much talent and patience to make spool ornaments.

EBet said...

Oh my golly-goshkins those are so darn cute!

MTWaggin said...

Those spool ornaments are a great design and you did a fine job on them. Too cute!

Stitches said...

These Santa spools are wonderful, I would love to own one of those..thanks for the chance..

Nancy said...

Great job on the ornaments. Since you didn't mention it, I assume no one was injured this year while carving.

My niece gave me a spool Santa a few years ago - I leave it out year round.

My Christmas tree is still in the garage. If I'm lucky, I'll get it up by Christmas.

KennyD said...

One of those would look very nice on our Christmas tree. Reading you every morning is part of my routine now. Please keep on blogging.

Anonymous said...

These are so creative - would love to have one for my tree. I decorate it with all my old sentimental ornaments that the kids and grandkids remember through the years. The spool santa would be a great addition!

Myrtlesgirl

LynneFtWorth said...

They are beautiful. I love homemade ornaments. When my niece and nephew were quite small she did her tree in nothing but ornaments made by their tiny hands. They are both grown but I know somewhere on her tree there still are homemede ornaments now by the grands.

Merry Christmas!

Dreaming said...

I am so impressed. Have you ever posted pictures of others you have made?
I hate that thread comes on plastic spools now, as I've had some crafts that used the wood ones. I never thought of enlisting a wood turner (hubby does this!) to make them... but that's a perfect solution!
I would love to hang one of your santa spools on my tree.... hint, hint, hint!!!

Karen said...

Oh I like those! I probably have a few wood spools kicking around. I'm not a carver, but maybe I could paint something on one. Some years ago I started giving my kids an ornament each year, with the year written on it. I try to find one
that relates to something they did that year, but quite often I can't. So I could paint a spool or, even a piece of dowel maybe:)

RURAL said...

Oh those are gorgeous! What an amazing collection your family and friends must have by now.

Good luck to all.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Anonymous said...

So cute and festive. I wish that I could carve or crochet or do something creative!!!

Laura said...

What a neat idea! What talent you have. Very cute. I've always wanted to try my hand at carving, but haven't taken the time...yet.

Rae said...

I was looking forward to seeing what this year's ornament would be. I collect old spools, so I really like these. Each year you outdo yourself. Very nice.

L. D. said...

Oh wow! That was a lot of time and work. They look great. I hope people realize the tedious carving you had to do. The spools are great and I can just see handy Andy counting as he goes making those guys. Good job and congratulations on getting them all completed.

LindaG said...

I think you are too hard on yourself, Far Side. I think they are great!
What unique and wonderful gifts. :)

Karmyn R said...

I think those are so cool.

and - I love that you have created a tradition out of them. I bet everyone looks forward to seeing what ornament you have created for them.

Judy said...

So unique...

Anonymous said...

I would love them, wood is my all time favorite of everything..a neighbor carved borders for his shades in the kitchen and living rooms out of oak, oh, my are they ever gorgeous...I would love to put that someplace in our home, we do Hanukkah but have christmas decorations up high with our 4 cats trying to get them, we perch them up high..thank you for such a wonderful blog, prayers for your husband, happy holidays to a sweet lady..mjs from momanddad00@clear.net

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Oh how I cherish the ornament I won a couple years back!

My country tree would be quite proud to support another beautiful original Far Side ornament! Woohoo...I just adore giveaways!

God bless and have a fun time with your giveaway!

Good luck ya'll...BTW, I'm hostin' another giveaway too. Ya'll come!

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I love them! Being a sewist and quilter, I love the spool idea!

Cappy

The Musical Gardener said...

60 - I think we share a common gene for insanity. We handpaint 80 cards every year (well okay those who follow me, know we cheated a bit this year) - but you get the idea.

Nothing like homemade ornaments - so much more meaningful than the assembly line imports.

Ann said...

Love them! Have been waiting to see your beautiful work. Gene and your are very talented!
Hope your Mom & Gene are healing.

Ellen said...

You have got to be kidding me!!! I think I'm more impressed with these hard carved ornaments than just about anything I've seen in a very long time. You are tremendously talented.

Anonymous said...

I always look forward to your Christmas ornament package to arrive. I cherish the first one you made for me - a stocking - when you were into ceramics, all those years ago! I love you!

Red said...

Amazing carvings from spools. Yes hardwood wood present a challenge. I"m sure people who receive these will treasure them!

Terry and Linda said...

Amazing! You and Far guy really ae very talented.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Lynda said...

They are so cute but someone else can have my chance at one. We are downsizing our ornaments to the kids. I have sooooo many that have been collected over 35 years! I'm impressed at how much you have accomplished though!!!!

Rita said...

I would love it just because you guys made it, but I haven't put up a tree for a few years so it should go to somebody who has a big beautiful tree to hang it on. :)

These are very cute! As a crafter I can appreciate all the hours that goes into an assembly line project like that. Great job! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh - now those are so cool! I'd love the chance to win one!

concretenprimroses said...

Wonderful! How marvelous that you can carve.
I just made 45 ornaments and I was thinking of sending some to relatives. Maybe you have inspired me to start a new tradition.
Kathy

Sissy said...

They are just so cute!! Would love to have him join my other Santa's. Seeing the wooden spools reminded me of my Grandpa that would whittle the spools into spinning tops. Merry Christmas!

Lanny said...

If I won one this year I would hang it on my hutch where your little cottages hang. Could I just order one instead, so I don't have to win it? Could I just expect that you would have an extra each year for me to buy? Because I would you know.

Oh and by the way, Bet really says golly goshkins. She is such a geezer, know anyone who wants to live on a farm with a twenty year old geezer?, she is rather cute for a geezer.

PeeJay said...

Well, I wasn't going to but I've decided I will put my name in the hat for a chance of one of your works of art. Reason? You're having problems with Far Guy's health and your Mom's and my dear old Dad passed away this morning. Grand old age of 89. He would have been 90 next month and also would have become a great-great grandad. He's now made me the head of the family and I shall be a great-grandma. One of your dated ornaments would be a lovely reminder of him.

Hope Far Guy and your Mom regain their health quickly.

Laura said...

The Ornaments are adorable! I would love to win one!! Thank you!!