Start with Molten Glass
I'm always fascinated by how beautiful things are made. I love crafts projects, scrapping, and various arts. Making glass ornaments is about as "easy" as making a bronze sculpture. They have a lot in common. Both start with a wax or clay sculpture. A steel mold is then made. One receives molten bronze and the other receives near-molten glass. Hence, neither is a do-it-yourself at home project, but it's easy enough to find a foundry in large cities. They'll make your steel molds for you, as well as pour whatever you want into them. With a foundry at your fingertips, you can definitely then make some extraordinary pieces, far beyond the value and beauty of ordinary craft projects.
It's a whole lot easier if you'll let the glass foundry make the molds for you. You can buy the ready-made glass tubes and do your own blowing. So, other than the mold, you can buy a camping-style gas burner and create your own blown glass ornaments. Of course, it's a lot easier to buy them, but then they'll be somebody else's designs. It's up to you. more...
Glass Christmas Ornaments for Kids
While "glass" and "kids" usually don't go together, I was thinking the other day about how important a baby's Christmas ornament is, for example. It's not expected that the baby actually play with the ornament -- it's in her or his honor. At some point, certainly around age 7 or so, kids might be allowed at least to touch and handle a glass ornament, having good knowledge by that time that glass is fragile but can be successfully handled.
So, I thought I'd look to see if glass was actually a barrier to kids, and if not, to what extent nice ornaments in blown glass were actually available for younger people. Interestingly, I did indeed find a well-known, famous designer line -- Radko kids ornaments. They've got an amazing selection of rocket ships and kids in space and all sorts of creative, high-end designs. These are the kinds of things that become heirlooms, the kind of thing a daughter or son in their 30s looks back and thanks Mama for silently as they reminisce about the special times of childhood. These are ornaments that will be remembered.
I think my favorite place has the personalized kids ornaments that most of us are looking for. While searching, check out the fun activities for kids at Santa games which the kids can do while you're searching for the next ornaments for them to take a look at.
Their glass assortment is actually quite remarkable, and really fun to explore. They offer more...
Overview of Glass Ornament Shops
If you're interested in a quick overview of what's available out there, ornamentshops.com has a nice collection of glass ornaments from a number of vendors. You can find glass ornaments in blown glass, machine made, and personalized. I wouldn't limit my shopping to that site as they're still needing to add some vendors in my opinion, but it's a good place to start. more...
Radko Little Gems
One of my favorite trees to decorate is the table top Christmas tree. Many people over 60 still love to decorate for Christmas, but have no need nor inclination to put up an 8-foot tree. Most prefer a tabletop tree, something in the 2 to 3 foot range usually. One of the advantages, in addition to be relatively easy and fast to decorate as well as store, is that you can reach around all sides of the tree easily, and get your ornaments in just the right spots.
For a smaller tree, you don't need and can't use ornaments in the 4-6" range. You need ornaments that range from around .75" up to 3 inches for the bottom. The best out there for this kind of decorating are Radko little gem ornaments. They range in size and fit perfectly in the nooks and crannies of smaller trees. more...
Blown Glass Ornaments
One of my favorite websites for glass ornaments is appropriately enough: glassornamentshop.com. I think of "vast array" without it being so much that it takes forever to wade through the junk. They do a nice job of balancing between choice and volume. There are a few lower-end options, a few high-end options, and then a broad range of glass Christmas ornaments for most people's budget.
Beyond machine-made glass, the majority of choices are blown glass ornaments with option made both in Europe as well as China. You can choose a few truly unique hand blown ornaments that cost a little more and are made in Poland, and then you can fill in the larger spaces with great tree decorating ideas from the made in China assortment.
The majority of Chinese-made glass options are Old World ornaments glass that many people have been collecting for generations. Choices range from animal ornaments like darling little squirrels and rabbits to creatures of the sea like "Shamu" and dolphins. They also have a great selection of glass Santa ornaments with new ones added every year. more...
Glass Christmas Ball Ornaments
For the tried and true, you can always go to Walmart or Target and stock up on machine-made ball ornaments. But, doing so is really and emphasis more on "been done and tried" rather than "true". Seriously, decorating for Christmas with just a little flair and personality can make the difference between a uptone environment enjoyed by all, and a chore that gets checked off the task list, something nobody is going to really enjoy.
When looking for Christmas decorations with a little personality, you can still find Christmas ball ornaments that add not only to the overall appearance -- as is the goal with multiple ball Christmas ornaments -- but also contribute on an individual basis. You get the overall look by standing 10 feet from the tree, but then your guests can be drawn into the tree by uniqueness of each ball ornament. Think "overall" as well as "individually unique". Designing your Christmas decorations with both perspectives will produce a lasting impression approaching art and leaving department-store drab behind. more...
Family Christmas Gift Ideas
When I was working on my gift list last year, I realized that there were individual gifts I needed to buy, and then we also had family gifts. There were about 10 families we wanted to give a little something to, so I started thinking of this issue as its own category. Surely everyone has the same problem -- what to give a family as a whole. We've all done cheese, fruit baskets, the horribly maligned fruit cake gift....I wanted something unique. It's fine and good to send something off directly from a catalog. These gifts let the family know you were thinking about them, and sort of acknowledge the relationship. Good enough. Sometimes, that's all I have energy for, and I've never blamed my girlfriends for doing the same.
So I had a bright idea while searching for something else, and I'll share it here: family Christmas ornaments. The positives: it's unique; it's highly personal; it's something they'll use; and it keep giving each year. I like the fact that each year they'll pull that ornament out and remember us remembering them. Personalized for the whole family, these glass family Christmas ornaments are hard to find and truly unique. I was able to get everyone's names together, and then write a little message on the back of the ornaments from our family to their family. more...