How to Make a Rustic Santa Ornament with a Mohair Lock Beard
Making ornaments is a fun and festive way to celebrate the holidays. Use these step-by-step instructions to make a rustic Santa ornament with wooden balls, felt, and mohair locks. This Santa, with his natural mohair lock beard, will add some country charm to your tree this Christmas!
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Finding the perfect tree, cutting it down, and decorating it as a family are some of my favorite Christmas traditions.
I love going through the box of ornaments and handing them out to my husband, daughter, or son because so many of them tell a story. Some were handmade by the kids when they were young, while others were purchased as souvenirs during family vacations. The ornaments take us back in time and bring us together.
I like to add at least one new ornament to our tree each year to keep the story going. This year I decided to make an ornament to commemorate our journey with our Angora goats. In the fall of 2024, we purchased our first Angoras and I have spent the past year learning how to shear, process fiber, spin, felt, and weave their beautiful mohair.
The locks from our white Angoras make the perfect beard! Here is how I made a rustic Santa ornament for our Christmas tree with wooden balls, felt, and mohair.
Materials Needed for Making a Rustic Santa Ornament with a Mohair Lock Beard
- One 40 mm wooden bead (with predrilled hole)
- One 10 mm wooden ball
- One sheet of white felt
- One sheet of red felt
- ¼ ounce white mohair locks
- Hot glue gun
- Hot glue sticks
- Scissors
- 16 inches 4-ply jute cord
- Tape measure
- One 1.27 cm white pompom
I used a large wooden bead with a predrilled hole as the Santa head so that it would be easy to string the jute cord through for hanging. Santa’s hat is made from felt and a pompom and his nose is a small wooden ball. The beard is made by arranging scoured mohair locks and everything is attached with hot glue.
Directions for Making a Rustic Santa Ornament with a Mohair Lock Beard
- With a tape measure and scissors, cut a 16-inch section of jute cord.
- Fold the 16-inch piece of jute cord in half and thread it through the hole of the large wooden bead.
- Tie a knot in the jute cord and rest the wooden bead on top of it. Don’t worry, the knot won’t show, it will be covered by Santa’s beard.
- Now it’s time to make Santa’s hat. Using a tape measure and scissors, cut a pie-shaped piece of red felt. You will want to make a sector of red felt with a radius of 3 inches to be the right size for the 40mm wooden bead.
- Using the red pie piece as a guide, cut out a ½ inch wide and about 5-inch-long piece of white felt.
- Using the hot glue gun, join the straight sides of the red pie piece. It will form a cone.
- With the hot glue gun, attach the white felt to the bottom of the red cone making the trim on Santa’s hat.
- Fold the hat in half and cut a hole in it with scissors so that the jute cord can pass through.
- Try the hat on your Santa head but don’t glue it on just yet. Begin arranging and attaching your mohair locks with hot glue to make Santa’s beard. I glued the cut ends of the locks to the wooden bead and let the bottom have natural curl.
- Keep attaching mohair until the beard is full, the back of his head is covered, and the jute knot is hidden.
- Position a mohair lock horizontally to make Santa’s mustache and attach with hot glue.
- Attach the small wooden ball with hot glue above the mustache to be Santa’s nose.
- Now you are ready to attach the hat with hot glue so that it is partially covering some of the mohair.
- Glue the hat in place and make sure the folded part is secure.
- Cut the tip of the hat off with scissors.
- Attach a white pompom to the cut end of the hat with hot glue.
- You can make eyes and rosy cheeks for your Santa if you want with paint. I made some with a face, but I like the plain ones better like you see in the example.
- Hang your Santa on your tree and have a very Merry Christmas!
