Twas the REAL Night before Christmas....

Not many folks know what happens for real on the night before Christmas. Oh..it's very true what they say...that Santa does delivers toys in his sleigh. However..the jolly ole Santa doesn't start out his delivering of gifts in his sleigh. No...he begins delivering gifts by riding his polar bear, Patshatl (which means giving) to the little elf children that live at the North Pole. You see, the Li'l ones are not allowed to know about the toy shop until they reach almost adulthood. Christmas is a magical time and Santa wants all to "BELIEVE" during their childhood so that when they are grown then the seed of magic will have been planted and they can continue a long tradition of giving and believing with their Li'l ones.

Santa and Patshatl are one of the newest designs in the Southern Ooaks Santa series for 2012. From Patshatl's back foot to the tip of the tiny wooden rocking horse, they sit at 8 1/2 inches tall. Patshatl is a wooden bear that was rescued from an old dusty table at an estate sale. The gentleman said that it had belong to his great aunt and was about 70 years old. I love collecting old, vintage, antique items to reuse with my designs. I had to sand some places and then I white washed him with acrylic paints.He is such a handsome Polar bear. His riding blanket was felted and then tiny glass beads attached. His nose harness was made from felt and then beaded. His reins were macramed using hemp and some of the tiny glass beads in between the knot tying. Santa,of course, is one of my original designs made from clay, without using any molds. If you have been following along then you know how he is made but I will give a small description for those that are new to the ooaks tree. His face and feet were sculpted from clay, baked and then detailed using acrylic paints. His body, a strong wire armature wrapped in wool yarn. His hair and beard were done using angora wool yarn. His Santa suit was hand sewn using velvet fabric from a vintage wrap. (also found at an estate sale) and faux fur. His gloved hands and boots were also felted.

Santa's bag was made from the same velvet fabric as his suit. Peeking out from the top of his overflowing "goodie" bag are a wooden rocking horse, soccer ball and tiny basketball (yes elves play soccer and basketball..hehe), a tiny bear, two tiny shiny presents and a bagged gift with candy canes poking out.

The piece came a long way from the little skinny guy to the plump, jolly old elf he is now!! I love designing Santa and I have many more to come. This piece is going to the Foley Performing Arts Trim-A-Tree event. I so hope that someone adopts him and takes him home. If they listen carefully, they might even hear the li'l elf children giggling on Christmas morn!!

Until next time...............HUGS,

Regi