Santa and his Cloak of Many Colors

When most of us think of Santa Claus we picture him wearing bright red clothing trimmed with white fur. His hat is red and his suit is red and he has black boots and belt and then there's that snowy white fur. I make figures of Santa dressed in red, but have never trimmed any of them with white fur. I have trimmed other gift-bringers clothing in white fur. Ded Moroz and his granddaughter are two examples. Some of my Nossie have white fur trimming on their clothing as well.

I do dress some of my Santa figures in red but not in the style that you may expect. I let my imagine take over when designing his wardrobe. I don't believe that Santa would have only one choice when he looks in the closet in the morning. I'm sure he likes variety in his clothing. He may favor red and perhaps even bright red, but I think he also has a selection of clothing in other colors too.

When I created the Santa I'm going to show you today, I decided that he might have a cloak in his closet that was made with patches of materials that were used to fashion some of his other garments. This would be his patchwork cloak, or his cloak of many colors.

This figure is 13 1/4" tall and 5 1/2" at the widest point. His cloak is a random patchwork pattern worked with shades of red, brown and green. The sleeves of his cloak are a medium brown and match his hat. He's wearing pale antique gold colored robes. The clover green toy bag on his back holds a Teddy bear, Jack-in-the-box and a stuffed lion cub peeking out of the opening. At his feet, tucked under the front edges of his cloak are a hound dog and a black faced lamb. The fur that trims his cloak and hat is a deep tan color.

After painting the piece I applied two coats of polycrylic sealer with a walnut stain for antiquing. As with all of my pieces, he is a OOAK sculpture made entirely from paper mache
clay.

As you can see, he may carry a bit of weight that his doctor might have advised him to loose, but he looks fairly trim in this cloak.

Even in a profile view he still appears quite trim and fit. I think he also must possess animal magnetisim. They seem to be drawn to him.

Hope you can get a look at the toys in the bag. I had a heck of a time with the Jack-in-the-box. It's the first one I've ever built and it doesn't even work.

This is his best side in profile. I was hoping you could get a closer look of the Teddy bear. I've made so many of them lately I'm actually getting pretty good at it.

Hope you enjoyed seeing another of the many Santas I feel compelled to make.

Thanks for stopping by.