Dala Horse Christmas Ornaments

 Some years I buy packages of thin, three inch wooden horses to design Christmas ornaments with. I've been doing it for many years.

I usually do pine boughs or holly and berries but this year I plan to try snow flakes and other holiday images.

Here are some of the of the first horses of this batch.

For the first one I thought I'd see how it would like if I tried something  mono chromatic for the people that like to decorate in just one color and quickly decided that it wasn't for me.

Next I tried using as many colors as possible but that wasn't it either.

That's when I got the idea to design more with holly and berries so here are some starts, progress and finished ones you can paint along with.

I thought it might be fun to combination of different colors with the holly and berries. I tried pink here  so that it could also be used as a baby girl's first Christmas.

Now I plan to go to my dala horse store and resign cards with some of my old Christmas dala horses.

Perhaps all of this will help me decide where to go From here.

Keep painting, you never know when something amazing will roll off your brush,

Julia

Dollar Tree Unicorn Transformed to Dala Horse Step By Step

 In times like these there's nothing more welcome than a bargain so when I saw these 8 inch unicorns for 1.00 I just had to have some.

It wouldn't be hard to cut them here and there and turn them into Dala Horses that might turn a nice profit.

Here's how I started:

1. Buy the unicorn.

2. Mark the pieces to be cut.

3. Cut them.

4. Sand and dust your new horse.

5. Apply primer or gesso.

6. Paint the design you have chosen.

7. Here are some design ideas:

Good Luck and Have Fun,

       Please, follow this blog and be sure to leave your comments or questions and I'll reply as soon as possible,

Julia

My Design Process, New Dala Horse Head Designs

 

When I'm designing dala horses I just work my Ideas out as I paint. This first piece often ends up different on each side as I continue to change my mind as I design the horse. This was one of the first that I sanded off to paint another design on.

Once I've decided on the parts that I like best, I'll make the final design and then start preparing tp market it. There are several ways to  go about doing that. You can either paint copies by hand and sell them or you can submit your design to print on demand companies and have your designs printed on a wide variety of projects for sale on the internet.

In the case of this horse head I would have used the area in the yellow from the second photo and the other brushstrokes from the first photo. And that would have become my final design. After that I would have gone on to color choices and variations. sometimes that will mean 3 or 4 additional horses before I develop a complete line of that design.

It's not as easy as people think it is but I find it really satisfying. 

I decided that I can do much better than this one so I sanded and gessoed it so that i could start over. I was much happier with this blue one and am putting several layers of clear coat on it now.

After that I will return to sanding and painting the last 3 horses in this shape and style which I hope will sell well. Wish Me Luck!

These wooden cut outs were originally unicorns purchased at the Dollar Tree Store. I was so happy to get them at just a dollar each that the extra work didn't matter.

There are only 4 horses but up to 8 new designs because I often paint each side a bit differently.

I may pursue some of these designs further but haven't decided yet.

This one is the favorite so far:

Keep practicing to keep your skills ready. You never know when you will want to use them again.

Here are some of the finished pieces:

These obviously is not part of this project. The photos are included here because i designed and then painted this at the same time that i did the other ones.          

Beyond Wooden Horses

 I've been designing and painting Dala horses for about 10 years now and done somewhere around 4 or 5 hundred horses.

I sold a lot, kept a few and gave  many as gifts.

After all or that, what's next? I'm working on a book and some videos and have also worked with companies to have my horses put on merchandise sold in different stores.

Here are some examples:

The possibilities are endless!

Join the fun!

Horse Designs on Various Themes

I thought I'd start on a sewing and quilting theme.

Next I decided to re-visit the Iris theme based on some wooden horses that i designed, carved and painted several years ago.

The first thing I'll do with these is put them on rubber stamps in my zazzle store and then I'll explore the other design possibilities from there.

Don't forget Christmas, that has a lot of possibilities.

Getting Started Selling Your Dala Horse Designs

At the top of the page is a photo of a wooden horse I designed, carved and painted several years ago so I thought I'd design a few more loosely based on that design.

It might be fun to see how far I can take the idea. This one will be used on a line of baby clothes that I'm designing. Please respect that and don't compete with me using my design. Create your own and the skies the limit for you.

It's hard out there for those of us starting out. We need to help each other.

It's easy to start once you have your own designs there are many companies where you can put your designs on products for sale. I use zazzle and have tried cafe press, there are many other companies like that. You'd just need to search for them. Good Luck!

In the meantime my patchwork horses are appearing on baby products and other things in my zazzle stores.

Another fun subject that may sell well is Christmas designs.

This is the first time  in nearly 10 years that I've tried coming up with a new Christmas design. As you can see I've left a lot of space to keep designing until I come up with a horse that I really like. I suggest you do the same. Just Keep Trying.

Kicking Ideas Around for New Dala Horse Designs

When I'm sure what I want to do I start with a page of outlines.

Today I'm working with gouache and a black marker for outlining.

This one was clearly a mistake. I could try again without the marker but I think I'll pass on the idea for a while.

I've always enjoyed flowers so this one is my favorite.

I'll be outlining the vines and flowers on this one next. I think of patchwork quilts when I design things like this.

This one will be used on my line of baby clothes on zazzle for starters and I'll try it on other products after that.

After all of that i figured I'd go back to drawing and do another horse in black and white.

 Unfortunately the drawing was too busy, and the lines too fine to make into a rubber stamp so I'm not quite sure hat to do at that point. I could just paint it in. Keep checking the blog to see what happens with it and to get more ideas.

I decided to try painting in the flowers by hand and will attempt a number of background colors before doing anything permanent with it.