#White Elephant

[foreststarflaime]

Life hack: get a sword so you can pull it out threateningly during games of white elephant when the stealing phase begins and you have something you like! It will produce an ominous aura and people will not dare to displease you!

[whitehareknits]

We had an ugly sweater contest at my office. I offered to knit an ugly sweater beanie as the prize. It turned out to be a bit of a hit😅

Then I was informed the daaaay before heading cross country to my parents place for the holidays that I would be attending not one but two white elephant parties... So guess who gets to have fun making more hideous sweater beanies😂😂

[chagrin-roses]

Made this for @dinoskarart for a kyman white elephant exchange!

[tanuki-kimono]

Unusual pattern choice for this modern high end obi, inspired by the famous Zo to Kujira-zu byôbu (Elephant and Whale folding screens) painted by mid-Edo animal lover artist Ito Jakuchu.

Those folding screens were rediscovered in 2008. There is apparently no hidden allegory behind the whale/elephant pairing beside the fact that artist once saw an elephant and a whale and (rightly) went "well they're neat".

Those screens were ordered to be displayed during Gion matsuri, and whimsical patterns were often favored for this occasion.

[nylarac]

this was going to be a normal poll but the app glitched out and changed all of the options to the last option so. hope u all like giant ferrero roche lmao

[sister-hawk]

HEY LOOK AT WHAT I MADE!!! I whittled this elephant out of a block of basswood, and then painted it by hand, as a gift for my lovely girlfriend, @potsiefaerie 😘♥️💖🩵 When we were still getting to know each other, she mentioned that she collects white elephant figures with her mother (after they found one at a white elephant sale), and I was like, "Wait, I've done a bit of whittling before. Surely I could make one, right???" And then it became my mission all through the spring, summer, and fall. And after a bit of a mad dash to the end, I was finally able to give it to her the first time we met in person 🥰

While it was in no way easy, crafting this elephant was an absolute joy, and it really (re)awakened in me a love for the art of whittling. I had only done some very basic whittling before, close to a decade and a half ago. So with very little experience, none of which was recent, I really impressed myself with how well this thing turned out. And while I'm no stranger to painting, I've never done detail like this before. That is just natural talent babey. I have definitely found my calling in this craft.

It's roughly 2 and 3/4 inches tall, and probably around 4 and 1/2 inches long. I have absolutely no idea how many hours it took start-to-finish. But it was a lot lol.

Process:

The first step was to find reference images of elephants online, from various angles. I used those to create basic drawings of an elephant mid-stride from 5 different angles (left, right, top, front, and back). I printed and cut those out of paper to create a simple stencil to trace the shape onto the block of wood (that's what you see in the first image.

The second step was to actually cut the rough shape of it out of the wood with a coping saw. Then I divided the bottom (where the legs are) in half, and used the drawing as a guide for removing the halves of the legs that weren't needed (since it is not symmetrical in its stance.) That gave me an extremely rough and blocky elephant shape.

Next came the whittling, and that was by far the majority of the work. Months were spent slowly shaving away little bits of wood, occasionally glancing at my reference images, until finally the final shape was achieved. Then it was sanded down so as to smooth out the facets created by the carving process, and to refine the shape a little more.

I also must mention that I did drop it at one point on a cement porch and snap one of the legs off at the knee. But! A bit of wood glue and a rubber band fixed that fairly easily.

Then came the painting process. First I used a glaze to help seal the wood. Wood is a very absorbent material. I knew that, in order to ensure that this piece would last as long as possible, it needed to be sealed so that the wood did not absorb moisture from the air, which could eventually lead to cracking as it expanded and shrank. But paint itself also poses some risk in this way, and the wood really wants to soak it up. So the glaze ensured that that wouldn't happen.

Then I put down three coats of white paint (with another touch-up coat), and then sealed that with another coat of the glaze. This was to protect the white underneath when I started painting with the blue, so that if I messed it up, I would have the chance to remove the blue without totally stripping the white.

Next was the detail work with the blue paint. The designs were first drawn on using a 4h graphite in a mechanical pencil (4h is pretty hard, so it wouldn't leave much behind. That made it easier to erase mistakes and cover with the paint). I did reference a couple mandalas that I found online for the ones on the forehead and back, but all of it was painted by hand with an extremely tiny brush and an enormous amount of patience. It requires very steady hands.

And the final step was two part. First, another coat of glaze to protect the blue paint so that it would not get smeared (not after I did all that hard work!!!). And finally, four coats of varnish to completely seal everything off. My hope is this thing will still be sitting on someone's shelf at least a few generations from now, so I did everything I could to protect it as much as possible.

Materials and tools:

3x3x6in block of basswood, from some website idk lol.

Coping saw from Lowe's.

Whittling tools from Beaver Craft.

120, 220, and 400 grit sandpaper from Lowe's.

Glaze, paints, and varnish from Jo Sonja's.

[take-a-dip-in-the-deadpool]

Orc: Welcome to the annual Mordor white elephant gift exchange!

Troll: The first up us… LORD SAURON!

Sauron: hmmm I'll take this little box… GASP! THE ONE RING!! GUYS!! I LOVE IT!!

Troll: Excellent! Next up is… GOLLUM!! Will you pick a gift or steal?

Gollum:

[animentality]

[quilt-giving]

This quilt was made as a “White Elephant” gift for a work holiday party several years back. This was NOT handquilted. I made it over a weekend using my sewing machine.

[holywoodelevator]

chat how are we feeling about the slenderverse documentary?

[big-tiddy-goth-ghoulfriend]

Doing the gift swap thing with my friends this weekend and we have a $20 limit, which is hard for adults because I feel like most people will just buy a thing if they want it that bad and it's less than 20 bucks. So to me this is more of a time for fun jokey gifts or handmade things (not like a king size knitted blanket or anything but ykwim), especially since these are people I've known for 15 years.

I made this:

we all quote this regularly so I feel like it'll get a good laugh, maybe get displayed on someone's desk.

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldElephantDay 🐘:

Bejewelled Elephant Bangkok, Thailand, c.1950 Sculpture, ivory with gemstones set in gilt silver 6 x 7 3/4 x 3 in. (15.24 x 19.69 x 7.62 cm) LACMA AC1995.108.1

[style-and-kyman]

🌲❤️Happy (late) Holidays!❤️🌲

Here's my White Elephant gift for AcornOfScorn on Twitter :D

[enigmaticspy]

"Oh no bro"

Merry Christmas!