Each side of this horse is quite a bit different because I haven't really painted roses in quite a while so I kept trying different brushes and techniques.
As you can tell these photos were taken outside so it was hard to get the colors true because of all the sunlight bouncing off things. You'll have to take my word for the fact that it really looks much better in person...and when you're not shooting it with someone else's phone.
Also be sure to shoot the photos BEFORE you apply the finish coat. Polyurethane can reflect the flash back and spoil the picture.
I wasn't real happy with the way this horse turned out but that was mostly because I need new brushes and couldn't seem to mix the shade of green that I wanted.
I liked the basic idea of it and will keep experimenting with different paint bushes until I find one that works best for the brushstrokes that I'm using for this design.
This is the sort of wood blank that I start with. our senior center has a wood carving group and there are a couple of people there that will cut them out for me on the scroll saw. You may be able to find one in your area too.
Here are a few horses in different stages. The one on the left is the blank, the one in the center has some carving on it and the one on the right is shaped, finished and ready to paint.
I do the rough shaping with a carving knife and then shape things the way I want an assortment of sanders and sanding sponges. Sometimes I even use emery boards.
Yesterday my husband clamped and orbital palm sander to a workbench so that I only had to move the horse instead of having to hang on to the sander and that made things a lot easier to work with. Keep experimenting until you find out what works best for you.
I had this sign made in my Zazzle store. It shows 4 of my different traditional style dala horses and I hang some of the ornaments on the bottom of it in case anyone walking by might be interested in them. I haven't sold any this way yet but it may come in handy as I carve and paint them at my worktable out in the yard
I'm happy to say that I sold some of the dala horse fabric that I designed on the internet. That may
work for you too.
The nice thing about designing merchandise with the dala horses that I create is that long after I've sold the actual horse it can still make me some money and make it possible to keep carving and painting more of them without having to worry about the cost of my art supplies.
When everything works as it should they pay for themselves and give me even more opportunities to keep creating new designs.
