2x4 Wise Men, A Very Rough Tutorial
In the early 2000’s I became infatuated with primitive style decor. I made prim dolls and holiday decorations for years. Grungy, baked fabric, dosed in coffee and cinnamon sprinkles, tea dyed paper tags, rusty wires, hammered and sanded wood... a lot of work went into making this style look primitive and simplified. Back then makers were selling on Ebay. Myspace still ruled as Facebook, Etsy, and Instagram were not yet a thing. My kids still associate this style with their childhoods and recall this phase of my making with fondness.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I stumbled across an idea for simple, square Wise Men. The ones I saw were “shelf sitter” size and cute as could be but I wanted to create a floor size, free standing version similar to what I saw online. And I wanted to do it with materials I already had on hand because I am impatient and like to proceed with random ideas RIGHT NOW!
(note: I did not use the hammer and nails pictured)
I first considered cutting 2x4’s but new they would not be easily balanced on their own, more of a rectangle shape than square. But glue two of them together and we would be in business!
I cut each wise man his own height, I didn’t want them all the same size but more staggered. I am not positive on exact measurements but they vary in the 12 inch height range, two of each increment.
I sanded each piece, rounded the sharp corners. Next I decided that “extreme” wood glue would be sufficient to hold the two pieces together to make each man. Didn’t know extreme wood glue was a thing? Me either but both Gorilla Glue and Elmer’s Glue make a version and it works! I let the pieces dry for a couple of hours and roughly drew beards and faces on each one while I waited.
Once everything was dry and solidly stuck together I painted each one with acrylic paint. There is no rhyme or reason to how you have to do this. I painted mine with random length & width beards.
Then I cut the crowns, which I free handed on some expensive thin cedar (cypress? I’m not sure) sheet that I got from Michael’s. Spare yourself that expense, thick card stock would work just as well. You can get all technical and measure the width for each side of each crown or do as I did and lay the wood blocks down and trace the dimensions for each one. I know, I am lazy and cut corners on my own personal projects.
After cutting out the crowns I painted mine with dark grey paint then splotched a gold metallic acrylic paint all over, both sides.
Before attaching the crowns I went back out to the garage and sanded each of the wise men to grunge them up a bit. Wipe all the dust off and if you want them even grungier and more aged looking you can do what I did and water down some brown paint and rub it in to make for a more distressed look.
Once you are satisfied with how they look you can paint on the black dots for eyes and hot glue the crowns in place. And that is it. I love how these guys look though I did consider painting on some “gifts” on the front of each one. Maybe jars and elaborate gold boxes to symbolize the gifts they brought to Jesus’ birth. But for right now I do believe I love them just the way they are.
This is a very rough tutorial that explains how I did it but leaves you lots of room to make changes and make it your very own style.