Slot-togethers

Sunset, Dec, 1987

Slot-togethers

Ho ho ho, pardner! A cowboy Santa, his faithful donkey, and his better-known team of reindeer impart a Western flavor to the holiday season. Cut from pine 1-by-12s, each figure slips together easily with intersecting cross-lap joints. Disassemble and store them flat the rest of the year.

To make the figures, you'll need neavy construction paper; a saber, jig, or band saw; a drill with a 1/2-inch bit; sandpaper; and wood (about 4 feet of 1-by-12 per figure if you cut all pieces so they run with the grain, less if you cut smaller pieces-- legs, antlers, or arms--across the grain).

Enlarge pattern pieces on construction paper. Outline them on the wood. Be sure to make notches no wider than the wood's thickness (it's better to make them slightly narrower); if they're too big, pieces can wiggle and break, and the figures won't stand up properly. Cut out pieces, drill 1/2-inch holes for eyes, and sand. Sand to widen notches, if necessary.

Finish the figures in any way you like. We left the reindeer natural, but you might prefer to paint or stain the antlers. We painted Santa's donkey gray, with black and white accents, and gave it a short cotton rope tail.

We also painted the white beard on our Santa, but for his clothes and cowboy hat we used a soft cloth to apply red paste shoe polish. The polish lets the wood's grain show through but doesn't bleed where you don't want it. To get precise lines, we used masking tape.

Our Santa's arms pivot; we connected them to the body with a short piece of 1/2-inch dowel, but you can glue them directly onto the body, if you prefer.

Photo: Dad's using a saber saw to create a reindeer for the festive porch greeting pictured at right--where a cowboy Santa holds his team with ribbon reins

Photo: Reinder

For stability, make notches for legs angle away from body

Photo: Cowboy Santa

Drill hole in head for eye and through body and arms for pivot dowel

Photo: Donkey

Use leg pattern from reindeer (above)

Photo: Homemade saddlebags (a single piece of burlap with both ends folded back on themselves) hold candy cane treats