My mother’s family is all Swedish so Dalecarlian horses are popular among much of my family. They come in several colors but my family seems to prefer the red ones. After buying some padauk recently from Inventables I decided that wood this color might be good for making some Dala horses. I made this batch of four, experimenting with various scoring/engraving options. This isn’t the best photo, but you get the idea. 
I should probably try adding the traditional painted details.
I think they look great just like that! (Don’t paint the pahdook - it’s too pretty.) 
Just the saddle/bridle and mane would be painted. They’d stay mostly reddish-orange.
Traditional Dalecarian horses (of the red variety) look like this:
Oh well, that’s kinda cool…okay. 
Looks great. You could try doing wood inlays instead of paint. Either way I’m sure they turn out to be fantastic.
Yeah, I thought about that. I’ll probably try doing some that way. (I may also do some acrylic ones with acrylic inlay, assuming I can find the right colors.)
Never paint padauk. Paint birch or poplar.
I never heard of these horses (and I have Swedish ancestry on my dad’s side)! Very cute. The painted ones remind me of the Russian nesting dolls.
I would just paint the saddle and bridle
Remember the three P’s. Pine, poplar, and plywood. Paint 'em.
