Santa Face - Intarsia

[FrankEV]

I converted an image I found online of a Santa face into a scrollable, nominal 8” x 13”, Intarsia pattern. 

Wood used: Aspen, Padauk and a mystery wood (possibly pine?) that I chose for the face that, after cutting and shaping, turned out to be much too light with little character.  Rather than recut and rework it, I chose to darken with a very light maple stain.   The eyes are painted with Artist Acrylic paint.  The texturing of the beard and mustache was done using a wire brush. The backer is 1/8” thick BB Ply with edges painted black.  The piece is protected with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray.

After glue-up was complete, a noticeable gap became apparent on the right side mustache/beard area and, after application of the finish, the white Asen did not stay as white as I wanted.  So this piece will be added to my home Christmas decorations.  The actual piece looks better hanging on my wall than it does in the pic below.

Comments and critiques always welcome

Edit: If you like a challenge, I've posted the pattern in Pattern Exchange

Edited November 29, 2024 by FrankEV
Added note

[preprius]

Frank, this looks really nice. 

The gap that you mentioned actually adds realism.  Like depth.  My mustache stands out more than my beard.  Also it adds a difference to left and right.  

If there is a big concern maybe go in with a grayish paint to make it not so dark background. 

A small very small distraction is the grain on upper half of the beard mustache. It goes straight across.  

Yes once it goes on the wall those little things just kinda go away or make it look better. 

The eyes makes the viewer experience so much better. 

Is santa looking up the cloudless sky?  Only the viewer can imagine.

So great work.  

[FrankEV]

10 minutes ago, preprius said:

...A small very small distraction is the grain on upper half of the beard mustache. It goes straight across... 

Yes quite noticable in pic, not so much on wall.  The grain in Aspen is almost invisible (like the Hat which is also horizontal grain) until you do something to it like the wire brush texturing I did. Then it become quite visible.

Things I'm learning!

[wombatie]

That is an awesome piece Frank.  Love it.

Marg

[barb.j.enders]

Another beautiful piece Frank.

As Preprius said, the gap adds to the piece.  Think of it as a design choice!! And only you know that it shouldn't be there.

[daveww1]

fantastic job, he's beautiful

[rjweb]

It looks great to me, RJ

[MarieC]

It looks really nice to me.... great Christmas wall hanging.