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Care to give some inspiration with some different shapes of snowmen photos?
- Thread starter Sam Fleisher
- Start date
I usually turn my snow people with the shape of insects in mind, a smaller head, a little larger thorax, and an elongated abdomen. 
I also turn my hats separately and glue them on at a bit of an angle.
I also turn my hats separately and glue them on at a bit of an angle.
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See, inspiration. Tomorrow I'll have to look around for a piece of wood that will take a better polish than the wet silver maple and possibly hackberry that I used for mine. Yours have a more detailed/refined look about them.
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If you want a challenge, try an inside out snowman - recent article in either woodturning FUNdamentals or American Woodturner detailed that, and I did one a long while back on my own initiative trying to figure out inside out turning in general... just need to be able to cut 4 precisely equal square blanks and figure out temporary glue joints (and keeping them aligned perfectly) ... As for design, I have turned maybe a grand total of four or five to "test the waters" of what might sell at local christmas bazaar... but Birdhouses, Lanterns and Spin Tops are still my best sellers.....
Here are a few ideas. Try knitted hats, I got these off of Amazon....
Roger Wiegand
Beta Tester
Doing a multi-axis turning to put the hat at a jaunty angle helps both the appearance and keeping the turning process more interesting.
I watched a video last night from the quad cities about turning birds off axis and had thought about that for a snowman. Then I also thought why not just turn the hats separate in a different wood even then stick them on.
So apparently I've been collecting pictures of snowman. 
Sam, I hope this is what you're looking for....
Not snowman but they could easily be painted as snowman.
One my FiL turned
Obviously I didn't turn this but it could easily be and I liked the shapes.
Not turned but you could turn an off axis snowman, like turn their hat off axis so it sits on the side of their head.
Sam, I hope this is what you're looking for....Not snowman but they could easily be painted as snowman.
One my FiL turned
Obviously I didn't turn this but it could easily be and I liked the shapes.
Not turned
but you could turn an off axis snowman, like turn their hat off axis so it sits on the side of their head.
You beat me to it.
With the multi-axis you could try a melted snowman. You may need to do a bit of carving on it.
I’ve been playing with snowmen myself for the last few days. It’s amazing how much you can change the shape and still have a snowman.
The two larger ones here are large sections from a tree that came down a couple days ago. I drilled holes up the middle of them to try to keep them from cracking. We’ll see how it works.
The two larger ones here are large sections from a tree that came down a couple days ago. I drilled holes up the middle of them to try to keep them from cracking. We’ll see how it works.
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I have some dogwood just begging to be turned into snowmen. Might give that a go later.
Roger Wiegand
Beta Tester
That's what you would do if driven by speed and efficiency. Sometimes I do things the hard way to alleviate boredom.
I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not artistic and I'm going to have to settle for being a better craftsman and work on speed/efficiency and construction.
Lots of lessons learned turning the %$$# eyeballs! First one was if you drop one on the floor it's worse than dropping a stainless screw in the chips. One session and I learned don't try and duplicate each one just make a bunch of them and look for matches!
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Eyeballs! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018QOUSM6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Sam those are pretty good! Don't rule out your artistic ability yet. Are those matchstick arms? If so, that's a pretty good idea.
I didn't even look for eyeballs online. Amazon pretty much has everything don't they.
Thought about inlay for the eyes and buttons but I had already finished the body and didn't want to change that. Usually just use a sharpie . Lump of coal doesn't have to be perfect.
The arms are just representational.
3/8 dowel I had around.
The snowman is not quite 11 inches tall. (Not exactly a tree hanger)
Thought about inlay for the eyes and buttons but I had already finished the body and didn't want to change that. Usually just use a sharpie . Lump of coal doesn't have to be perfect.
The arms are just representational.
3/8 dowel I had around.
The snowman is not quite 11 inches tall. (Not exactly a tree hanger)
I use puff paint for eyes buttons and nose. Started adding color to hat band and glitter on hat rim.
I've given up on trying to prevent cracking and am embracing it.
I've been turning logs round and putting tenons on then putting them on the shelf to crack as they want and I'll fill with some nice glittery epoxy in the fall and then turn my snowmen.
Hopefully with better results.
Going for a 10-15 inch snowman for display. Or guess you could hang it on a really big tree.....