Carving and Painting Christmas Ornaments -
Easy Techniques For 23 Patterns in Wood
By Betty Padden
Reviewed by Matt Kelley
Carving and Painting Christmas Ornaments, a recent release by Woodcarving Illustrated Books, is a collection of 23 patterns for carved christmas ornaments, including projects for beginner, intermediate and advanced carvers. Padden starts with a page of Getting Started information, then includes five pages on her painting technique. She paints with oil paints and so focuses on that type of paint, but much of the information may be useful to acrylic paint users as well.
After the painting section, Padden starts out with carving and painting directions for two beginner projects, followed by two intermediate and two advance projects. Following the six projects with carving and painting instructions, there are 17 additional projects with photos, patterns and painting suggestions, in a mix of skill levels. The projects are a nice mix of new ornament designs, certainly sufficient for a newbie, but even advanced carvers will find some fresh ideas in this volume.
Contents include:
- Inside front and back covers — Paint Mixing Quick Reference
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Painting
- Step-by-Step Projects
- Beginner
- Christmas Sock
- Stargazing Sheep
- Intermediate
- Blooming Poinsettia
- Heart Angel
- Advanced
- I’m On The Nice List Elf
- Polar Bear Delivery
- Additional Projects
- Twinkling Star
- Simple Heart
- Clip-on Candle
- Elf Icicle
- Bless This House Ornament
- Christmas Reindeer
- Large Snowman Head
- Snowman Snowflake
- Large Snowman Icicle
- Small Snowman Icicle
- Cozy Penguin
- Snowman Family
- Top Hat Snowman
- Bird and Top Hat
- Clip-on Chickadee
- Snowman Head and Star Family Ornament
- Snowman with Sign
The photos and drawings in this volume are of good quality. The directions seem sufficiently clear to allow even a newbie to successfully carve at least the beginner projects. If you are looking for some fresh ornament projects and don’t have the time to design your own, you will find this book useful, particularly for the newbie carver.
The book has a suggested retail price of $16.99 and should be available from your favorite carving supply house, or Fox Chapel Publishing. Check the Resource Files on this site for quick links.