Recently, a longtime customer asked for a truly custom piece. She especially wanted to have the family Dachshund represented somehow. She had seen my Santa with a dog in the 2023 Christmas issue of Early American Life (which comes out in the fall). Could we do something like that? I said I thought we probably could, and we agreed on a price.
The customer sent us several photos of her dog. This one informed much of the coloring and the alert and serious attitude the custom version of the little guy would need. His name is Kobe, which I believe means “cunning.” That seemed to fit!
I pondered on the project (the lady was very patient) and finally decided that instead of doing one piece, I would do this work in two pieces. I took some time with Kobe.
Then I sent a photo of the roughed-out Kobe to the customer for her approval and suggestions. She wrote back that she loved where this was going. And that having Kobe in Santa’s bag was a great idea. (Whew!)
Next was the experimentation with the stain for Kobe. As you can see in his photo, there are several tones in his coat and face. (I have to give my wife credit here, as she did the coloring on this project. She spent several hours mixing and trying out different stains, falling in love with both Kobes in the process.)
At last she had the color just as she wanted it and started to bring basswood Kobe alive. We sent this picture to the customer to see what she thought.
The lady was delighted. She said it was more than she expected. The coloring was good, right down to the touch of pink on the nose. She said it looked like Kobe. We had captured his essence.
Then I turned my attention to Kobe’s companion, St. Nick. The customer said she wanted him to have the full sleeves with fur that she had seen on other Santas. And a draping cape. So I studied the idea a while, Then I went to work. I stopped at a point and sent her this picture.
Yes! she said. She was happy with the sleeves and fur and all. Then she started collaborating about the color for his coat. She had a kind of blue in mind, and also a gold for his tunic.
She sent a picture that came close to what she was thinking about.
Tinting wood with artists colors thinned with linseed oil is not an exact science. So several photos of various renditions of the colors on a scrap piece of wood finally resulted in a decision. So when I finished all the details on St. Nick, he went over to my wife.
Happily, the lady was more than pleased with how the colors turned out. Now all that was left was to finish some details, wait for the stain to thoroughly dry (that can take more than a week or more, especially if much titanium white is used), and then polish everything up.
We did not tell the customer, but we had a touch more we wanted to do for Kobe. He needed to be surrounded by some presents in that bag. A little woodworking and some tinting (and a bit of mini-bookbinding!) and . . .
After a couple of weeks, custom St. Nick and Kobe were ready to off go to their new home.
We missed them for days. Especially Kobe. But we know they are happy. We have heard from them.
They are with friends.
