Rustic tree decoration hand carved Christmas Cowboy ornament (Pecos Pete) housewarming gift home decor personalized ooak buying unique gift to give

Mail Deadlines: United States: USPS
Ground- Dec 14
1st Class- Dec 20
Priority- Dec 21
Priority Express- Dec 22

A rustic Christmas tree decoration, hand carved Cowboy ornament (Pecos Pete) by Susan L Hendrix, Wasatch Woodcarver. This holiday decor makes a great housewarming gift, hostess gift, baby's 1st Christmas or gift for a grandchild.

Size: 5" X 3 1/4" X 3/8"

My unique hand carved wood ornaments are carved the traditional way, with hand tools; knives, gouges and v-tools. I sharpen my tools by hand because I prefer very sharp tools which leave a clean carving, with no fuzzies or broken pieces of basswood. I have carved and whittled for over 30 years now and have written a book explaining the way I carve a face, mustache, beard and hair (Carving Woodspirits: Beyond the Basics). I teach carving classes twice a week, the classes are 3 hours long. Teaching has given me a lot of hands on experience in helping students fix a mistake or to teach them how to be a better painter.

I use dry wood so the ornament is stable, it does not crack over time. Traditionally painted with layers of thinned acrylic paints and stains. The ornament is then protected with several coats of varnish which protects the ornament against moisture, and dust. I use an antiquing wax to bring out the shadows. My handcarved Christmas ornaments do not require any special maintenance other than a gentle cleaning with a damp (not wet) cloth, if happy children have left sticky finger prints on them.

My ornaments are wood, so help the little ones understand that a protruding piece of wood could accidentally be snapped off in the direction of the grain. (If that were to happen, use wood glue to reattach the piece.)

My ornaments take 7+ hours each; from drawing the pattern on wood, cutting it out with a scroll saw, carving it with hand held carving tools, painting, staining and varnishing, antiquing and putting a final coat of wax on it. The 7+ hours doesn't include drawing original patterns, xeroxing them many times to get them to the right size or photographing the ornaments.

Carving is my passion and I love to see the joy that shows when a person receives a gift of one of my carvings. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to buying see each face as they open a gift of one of my woodcarvings.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions.

**Props used in my photographs are not part of the purchase price and are not for sale, but I might be able to tell you where I found them.

I'd love for you to follow me on Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/handcarvedwood/
and my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wasatchwoodcarversusanlhendrix/?ref=bookmarks