"I used a foam brush to dab the red paint, called 'Christmas Red,' on the clay pots so I wouldn't get brush strokes. Plus, as an added benefit of dabbing with a foam brush is that the body and hat have a cloth-like texture. I used gold-colored wreath hanging wire to fashion a pair of spectacles. Wire wrapping tools can help with this or just use your hands. The eyes are two round beads. The beard is a fancy variety of a tapered chenille stem and I used a thin piece of chenille, bent in an upside down U shape for the moustache, leaving a small opening for a mouth. The hands are made from red and white felt. The pencil is actually a dowel that I cut and painted yellow and tipped with a black marker to give the pencil a lead point."