Marion crafter makes Santas come to life

Dianne Porter loves Christmas so much that she opened a business to keep Santas and wreaths around her every day.

She works out of her Marion home producing art gallery-quality Olde World Santa dolls and unique pheasant feather wreaths. Her collectors receive a certificate of authenticity with each signed and numbered piece.

"No two are alike," she said. "I'm creating these to be heirloom collector items - something that's handed down from generation to generation."

From the porcelain faces and hands to the amazingly detailed clothing, her Santa dolls spring from Porter's imagination and skilled hands. Her focus on St. Nick continues in her dreams.

"I go to bed at night and I create," she said with a smile.

Her love affair with wreaths and Santas actually evolved from a love connection with an old family friend that led her to Killdeer, N.D.

About 10 years ago, she was working as a certified picture-framer in Somers.

"I went to visit my mom in Ajo, Arizona, and the phone rang," she said. "A male voice said this is Tom Porter. I hadn't heard the name Tom Porter since I was 15."

But how could she forget the huge crush she had on "the James Dean of Halliday, North Dakota?" After a whirlwind courtship, she joined him in Killdeer, where Tom works as an engineer for an electrical firm. The two got married in July 1998.

"We just really hit it off," she said.

Porter kicked off Annie B's Designs in 1998 with a very popular feather wreath inspired by her husband's harvest of colorful pheasants. She remembers seeing the pelts in the back of his truck in the sunshine.

"Those incredible iridescent colors - I wondered what I could do with those," she said.

After learning taxidermy methods to preserve the pelts, Porter artfully wrapped three to four around a wreath, then added dried native plants and backed the wreath with felt. Her product, measuring 16 inches in diameter, was a big hit at the Norsk Hostfest in Minot, N.D.

"They literally flew off the wall," she said.

Porter said she uses only the skins that are a byproduct of birds hunted for meat. As a result, she offers a limited number through her Web site, www.anniebs-designs.com, at $225.

In 2005, she bought a doll-making business to add to Annie B's Designs even though she had no experience with the craft.

"I thought it looked like fun," she said. "I spent a year counting body parts and learning on the Internet."

Her first dolls were look-alikes of children that sell for $300. Photographs of two she made of her daughter and then granddaughter show the amazing resemblance, making it difficult to decide which is the real child.

"I made a dozen dolls and sewed all their clothes," she said. "Then I decided to focus on elegant Olde World Santa dolls."

Porter recalled that it began with a woman in Killdeer in 2006 asking if she could make a Santa doll to match her silver-and-blue decorating theme. Her customer loved her Olde World Santa and Porter loved the meticulous work involved in making it.

According to Porter, she was born with artistic ability.

"I come from a long line of crafty ancestors. My mother paints and we made crafts of all kinds," she said. "I started sewing for myself when I was 10 years old."

Last April, Porter moved her business to the new home she and her husband bought for their retirement in Marion. She immediately jumped into making Santas for this Christmas season.

The process of creating the 26-inch dolls begins with mixing liquid porcelain slip from clay.

"I have to mix it very well and let it sit so no air bubbles form," she said.

Next, she pours slip into molds for body parts such as the head and hands, lets it sit for three minutes, then pours the excess off to hollow out the parts. Once removed from the molds, the parts air dry before she cleans, then soft fires the pieces in her tabletop kiln.

"When it comes out, I have to clean sand and smooth them to get rid of rough spots," she said. "Then I fire it to bisque."

During multiple firings, Porter applies the all-important coloring to the face and hands. She taps her painting skills to apply just enough color to end up with a natural-looking face and hands.

"I have to fire it several times to color it," she said. "Too much and it looks artificial. The goal is to create a glow from within."

With the porcelain finished, Porter assembles the body parts for dressing from clothing she designs and sews.

"This labor of love takes about 40 hours start to finish," she said.

The theme chosen for each Santa guides her fashion designs.

For Montana Santa, Porter sewed a tan-and-black plaid shirt, brown fine-wale corduroy pants and a cloak of antique gold upholstery fabric lined in gold suede cloth and trimmed in faux sable fir. Don't tell the reindeer, but she made his lace-up boots from deer hide.

Details - such as Montana Santa's walking stick with a red cardinal nesting in green pine boughs - make Porter's Olde World Santa's irresistible. Each doll stands on a walnut base made by her husband, Tom.

Depending on the time and materials, Porter's Olde World Santas sell from $600 to $800 or more. Most sales come from word of mouth, though her Web site shows off her work.

"They're very well made," she said.

Some of her favorites in the past include a woodsman-themed Santa, a quilted cloaked Santa and a Tuscan Santa.

Porter said she lets everyone know when she embarks on a new doll because she doesn't want to be disturbed. She even cleans her house ahead of time.

"Once I start, I don't do anything else," she said. "I'm totally focused."

People interested in buying or learning more about her Santa dolls may go to her Web site listed above or call her at 854-9495. Porter has Olde World Santa dolls for sale at Gold Creek Jewelry in Columbia Falls or McGough & Company Jewelry in Whitefish.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.