In a nod to my love of all things Christmas, I have been making needle-felted Santas and reindeer every year. This year’s collection had make-do Santas mounted on various antique industrial spools. In the past, my Santas have pretty much all carried a teddy bear – obviously. But this year, I wanted to change it up a bit. I found a couple of lots of antique putz stick-leg horses that were affordable enough to include in my pieces without making them outrageously expensive. I have been collecting the spools for a few years, as artists do, trying to amass a group that I could use for something.

I was a bit stymied by a bunch of flat spools that I got from Sandee Millet at Greenwood Merchantile in Greenwood, MO. I knew they would be good bases for figures, but wasn’t sure how I would use them. It took me several months of back-burner ruminating, but I finally figured it out. I needed a tiny figure!

These little guys were well-received and I will be making more for next year. The flat spools are not as readily available as some of the other styles, so I will be on the hunt for more!

I did not have time to make any Santa bears, so I will work on those for next Christmas also. I have the one polar bear started and I think he will just be carrying a tiny Santa doll of his own.