IQALUIT - In a building nestled between two snowbanks, craftsmen in denim aprons hunch over their work tables, industriously creating sparkly Christmas ornaments.

Kaajuk Kablalik works on a bronze polar bear, preparing it for its sale debut on Nov. 27. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

They're not elves, they're even better. They are the eight men of the jewelry and metalworking program at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit.

Despite their human status, they will still be bringing joy and gifts to the people of Iqaluit when, on Nov. 27, they open their doors for their annual sale of Christmas ornaments.

Kaajuk Kablalik, 30, a first-year student, was hard at work shaping a bronze polar bear ornament. The course, which started in September, teaches the basics first, Kablalik said.

"If you don't have fabulous designs, what can you base your work upon?" he said, showing where he will "chase" or cut the texture of the polar bear's fur into the metal.

Last year's Christmas ornament event sold out in about seven minutes, said Erin Boake, course instructor.

The students are working on Arctic designs cut out of bronze, but each artist is unique, said Kablalik, who is from Rankin Inlet.

"We're kind of like a big pot of stew and everyone brings their own flavour," he said.

He put traditional tattoos on the faces on his Inuit carollers ornament.

"I like to incorporate it into my artwork, something to show it's mine," he said of the facial tattoos.

"I wanted to do something sort of traditional but modern at the same time. I'm not that old myself," Kablalik said, smiling," so I wanted to bring old with new."

Kablalik's working on 12 ornaments and hopes to have 15 done for the sale.

"I hope to make a few dollars," he said. "I'm going to put my heart into them, each one is one of a kind."

In the studio next door, Silas Qulaut, 22, was cutting texture into the face of a bronze seal.

"I've been carving since I was 13. I decided to do something different," Qulaut said.

He spread out his ornaments, including a polar bear, drum dancer and seal. From Iglulik, his biological family holds many famous carvers, he said.

"It is in my blood. I've been drawing since I grabbed a pen."

He's hoping to study goldsmithing when he graduates from the Arctic College program in April 2011.

For now he's busy with his ornaments, with the sale only two weeks away.

The ornament sale will be Nov. 27 from 5 pm to 6:30 pm at the Nunatta Main Campus in Iqaluit, according to Boake.