Finishing with shaky hands!%#&%@

I guess that many of us when we get older get shaky hands (at least some times).  Shaky hands when you carve and try to paint smaller pieces can be difficult.  I get shaky sometimes but it has not kept me from whittling.  But when the shaky hands come on, painting is a mess.  Too lessen the problem I came a dipper.  Not paint, but stain.

Smaller Santa's became a problem with the white, skin tone and red; when painting was attempted.  I still paint the eyes, but that is all.

Here's what works for me:

1.  Dip the piece into stain, and wipe off the excess stain.
2.  Let dry,
3.  Apply the eyes.  Apply a dot of white with the fat end of a round tooth pick.  After white dot dries, apply the blue dot with the smaller end of the tooth pick.
4.  After the eyes dry dip the whole thing into water based polyurethane.

This process enhances the wood itself and works well when you promise lots of carved gifts.