Red Dala Horse Ornament Designs

I always try to design each red horse differently than the last one. Even when I'm using the same colors and brush strokes.

As you can imagine there are parts of these that I like better than others. These are the miniature horses so there is only so much detail that I can get on them.

On a full size ornament or larger horse you could expand on the design by adding more rows of comma strokes around the saddle and mane or more layers of colors in the dots across the chest and belly areas.

I finish these off with a screw eye and a piece of gold cord to hang them with.

I've still got one dozen unfinished wood blanks to carve and turn into more ornaments. Will I be able to come up with a dozen different designs to paint them with? Keep following this Blog and find out and as always, Keep painting and discover your own creative spirit.

Dala Horse Christmas Ornaments

I'm working on a number of different styles and sizes of horses for the Christmas tree this year but thought I'd stick to red ones in some more or less traditional designs.

2 of these are ornaments and the larger wider horse is just free standing for a shelf or table. This time I decided to limit the colors used to just red, yellow green and white. I was pleased with the results and added them to my Christmas tree.

My tree will be all red horses but here's a picture of a tree done with other horses that I've done over the last 4 years that belongs to one of the people that collect them.

Not Just Another Red Horse

A lot of design elements are common to most horses. It's your selection of these and ability to mix them that makes each horse different. Variations on a theme that make your designs sing. You can stay true to your roots and express yourself at the same time which is one of my favorite things about Dala Horses and why I hope it will ignite a passion in you too.

Five Different Red Dala Horse Designs

I still don't have a workshop or studio up and running so I need to do my carving, sanding and clear coating out doors. Living in Minnesota limits the amount of time that I'm able to do that so my Dala Horse Season is a short one.

Here's an assortment of this years designs.

 My favorite thing to show people here is that I never do the same thing twice. Of the five red horses in this shot, no two are alike.

As you can see it's a nice place to work, dappled sunshine and a light breeze make it comfortable most of the day.

I'm going to miss this over the long, long winter's we have here.