Jack Sullivan's favorite image of Santa is that of an old, bearded man with a flowing, red hooded robe and a cape. He's Kris Kringle and Father Christmas, loved by thousands of Victorian-era children and celebrated in Mr. Sullivan's intricate carvings of Old World Santas.
"I like the Victorian-era Santa because he's more interesting, and there are many different ways to carve him," said the 56-year-old Severn resident. "I like the hood, the long coat, the cape. The red hat, boots, red pants and short, red coat are part of the modern Santa."
Because Mr. Sullivan works from his imagination and uses no patterns, each Santa is different.
"You can be sure your Santa will never be duplicated in another collection," he said.
Mr. Sullivan's Santas bear the marks of chisel and knife. Their faces are expressive, with wide, dark eyes and plump, rosy cheeks. One Santa's facial expression is serious and somber, as if he's thinking about his whirlwind Christmas Eve duty. One hand is holding a bag full of candy canes and gifts.
Another Santa is tall and thin. His lips are slightly apart, as if he's ready to say something.
Both have candy canes in their pockets, Mr. Sullivan's signature.
His Santas -- which range from 2 1/2 inches to 2 feet in height and cost from $50 to $75 -- grace the coffee tables and curio cabinets of homes in Japan, Britain and Italy and in 15 states.
But don't race to the nearest Christmas store to find them. Mr. Sullivan sells them only to friends and customers at craft shows. He has made 300 pieces since his first Santa four years ago and has averaged about 75 to 80 a year.
"I do them because I like doing them, not because I want to make money," says Mr. Sullivan, a retired Navy and Air Force intelligence employee. "If I mass produced them, then I would lose the feel."
He spends five to six hours carving each Santa from basswood in his workshop, then two hours painting it and making the gifts for the bag.
He displays his newest creation on his coffee table. His wife, Lisa, promptly falls in love with it and doesn't want the Santa to leave the house. "I don't think that anyone can appreciate it as much as I do because I see the work he puts into it," she says. "I do have his first Santa, and he makes one for me every year."
But Mr. Sullivan wouldn't have started carving Santas at all if he hadn't flipped through a Christmas magazine. "I saw some Santa carvings and I thought I could do a better job," says Mr. Sullivan, who began carving caricatures more than 30 years ago.