John Hein Woodcarver

12/14/2025

We will not be at the European Christmas Market today. Setting up with the temperature at 10 below zero is out of our comfort zone. Next weekend looks promising with temps around 30 degrees.
Ar present, we don't maintain an on-line site to purchase our items but stay tuned as I might create one this week.
You can contact me through this page, Messenger, e-mail etc to make a purchase.

12/11/2025

It's been a while since I painted a Blue Jay so I had to reference my painting book. For bright colors like this I first coat with water thinned Gesso. This seals the wood in white that prevents darkening the blue paint. I used a bit of Cobalt Blue mixed into Americana Blue Bird paint.

12/05/2025

A couple of Santa faces on their way to the European Christmas Market.
Green and white acrylics with gold and medium flesh accents. Carved out of 1"x1"x3.5" basswood triangles. Boiled Linseed Oil batg and allowed to dry overnight before painting. Face unpainted except for cheeks/nose med flesh dry brushing. These get easier to do after the first 100.

12/03/2025

We sold out of Chick-a-dees the first weekend at the European Christmas Market so I spent sometime this morning at the woodshop on the bandsaw.
You might say I have my work "cut out" for me.
Hopefully, these 40 will be enough for the upcoming weekend.

12/02/2025

The Cardinal in a tree favorite at the Christmas Market. Trees cut from 3/8" wood, birds carved from 3/4". Decorated in similar fashion to ornaments I have seen at markets in Germany. Dotting tools dipped in paint produce consistent dots in 10 different sizes. Snow by Snow-Tex.

12/01/2025

We made one of the week-end feeds

11/27/2025

When you have been carving and painting for 11 months and opening day is fast approaching ....They say it is expected that 250k visitors will come to the European Christmas Market during the next 4 week-ends... We have prepared over 3,100 items for sale and we will continue making items during the off days.

11/26/2025

11/26/2025

I carve a lot of Christmas ornaments; some of them, like the Gnomes pictured, have a very thin tapered hat where it is impossible to screw in a threaded eyelet. Other times the eyelet is too large and is distracting.
At these times I will sink in an earring eyelet. This works best if you are inserting it into the end grain.
Tips - 1. Use pliers to grasp the eyelet wire very close to the end to push it in or the wire will bend.
2. Use a push pin to start a pilot hole before attempting to insert.
3. Dip the end of your carving in water before painting. The water will expand the fibers in the wood and soften them.
4. If you are worried about the pin coming out, dab a small amount of instant glue (CA) where the pin meets the wood.
Hope this helps.

11/22/2025

Using red on Basswood.. I use a water-based Cardinal red wood dye for my Cardinals. It has a little bit more orange in it, dries matte and is transparent. For my Gnomes and Santas I prefer a brilliant red and use "100 MPH" from Home Depot - Behr Satin paint in the sample size. It flows easy and dilutes very well with water.
Before painting, the Santas get dipped Boiled Linseed Oil ( BLO) and left to dry overnight. The face is left unpainted except for a bit of medium flesh dry brushed over the nose ( + nose of Gnome)and cheeks. I use a bit of white for the eyebrows.
I don't not dip the gnomes in BLO.