2torial #0677:
Learn2 Build a Snowman (continued)

Decorate and dress the snowman

Now it's time for your personal artistry to come out. Give your creation personality by adding features, limbs, clothing, and accessories.

Decorate the face and body. Classic snowmen usually have twigs stuck into their bodies for arms (these can be very expressive depending on their shape and angle). Adding a vertical line of coal or rock "buttons" down the front, raisins or buttons for eyes and a smiley-shaped mouth, and a carrot for a nose are other traditional touches. You can use anything you choose to make your snowman's features, however--even more snow, if it's "sticky" and moldable enough. Small, dark, water-resistant items are best, though. They show up well against the white of the snow and tend to stay put throughout the snowman's life.

Give it clothes and props. A winter scarf and hat are classic snowman garb, but you can use anything from an old coat or apron to a plastic hula skirt and lei--as long as you don't mind its getting wet and dirty. Likewise, Frosty and his kind traditionally "hold" brooms propped against their bodies or their twiggy arms, but you could choose instead to give yours a snow shovel, a sled, or an old golf club--again, anything you don't mind leaving out in the snow for a few days.

Your snowman may last for part of a day or for several days, depending on the weather. Before you go in to warm your fingers by the fire, stand next to your creation with your co-builders and immortalize it with a photograph.

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