Posts Tagged ‘handrafted ornaments’

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The Ornament Finder – Find Ornaments Fast

Monday, October 26th, 2009

This is a great search tool if you are looking for unique ornaments.

If you are reading this blog, you have an interest in ornaments. Whether you are an avid ornaments collector , gift buyer, or just love anything beautiful and creative, you will want to look at The Ornament Finder on Ornaments.com. There are already over 3,000 ornaments listed and many are unique ornaments such as the images pictured on this page. In the next few weeks, we will be inviting more and more ornaments artists and designers to include their latest creations in the new search tool.

Our very creative webmaster has poured his heart into this program, so that our readers and guests will be able to find new ornaments, vintage ornaments, and hard to find ornaments. This idea came about because so many of our visitors have contacted us to ask where they can find specific ornaments. They know exactly what they want and their requests are sometimes very detailed. Mostly, they want a unique ornament that they already see in their mind, but haven’t been able to find it in stores and they don’t know how to produce it themselves. Chances are that one of the ornament artists or ornament vendors listed on The Ornament Finder has just what you want or will be willing to customize an ornament for you. We are grateful that you come to Ornaments.com to find ornaments. Now your search will be even easier. Find ornaments fast with The Ornament Finder.

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Blown Glass Ornaments – 3 Day Process

Friday, October 16th, 2009

The process of blowing glass ornaments is centuries old.

Artisan crafted blown-glass ornaments are created in much the same way today as they have been made for centuries. The process takes several days, and results in a piece of art your family can treasure for decades.

While you may have thought of blown glass ornaments as limited to spheres or simple shapes, the almost infinite variety displayed on Ornaments To Remember will certainly change any idea that you have of blown glass ornaments being restricted to tradition. Their 2009 collection is especially prolific, and ranges from the lovely glass ornaments based on Chinese motifs to Bingo ornaments with alot of fun ornaments in between. It is pretty amazing how much detail the artisans are able to achieve with their latest line of blown glass ornaments, and that isn’t even counting their custom designed ornaments. They even have movie ornaments and food ornaments as well as ornaments for hobbies and occupations.

Here is the basic process for making blown glass ornaments:

Day 1:

1. European craftsmen hold a hollow bulb of glass over an open flame until it is glowing red and pliable.

2. While the glass is still hot, a blower places it in the mold of choice and blows through a connected tube until the glass fills the mold.

3. The ornament cools and is removed from the mold.

4. When it has completely cooled, it is “silvered” using a proprietary blend of these ingredients: silver nitrate, ammonia, distilled water, saltpeter, and sugar.

Day 2:

1. The ornament is dipped in a base coat of lacquer. Our lacquer is non-toxic, does not contain lead, and meets Europe’s standards for being environmentally friendly.

2. Once the lacquer dries, depending on the design, color lacquer is applied in coats, then the ornament is hand painted and glitter and other coating are added if necessary.

3. The ornament is left to dry overnight.

Day 3:

1. The stem of the ornament is cut off and an ornament cap is placed on.

2. The ornament is placed in a specially designed gift box that protects it during shipping and makes a lovely presentation.

Ornaments To Remember is proud to create ornaments in the old tradition in a way that is safe to their workers and to the environment. In addition, all of their profits support the nonprofit parenting website The Learning Community.

Article and images used with permission from Ornaments2Remember.com

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Shabby Cottage Shops – Pink & Pretty

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Shabby Cottage Shops is celebrating their grand opening.

Shabby Cottage Shops is a great new venue for artists and ornaments designers and was created for individually owned website shops or e-boutiques allowing them to gain exposure, presence and awareness on the internet at a reasonable cost. They offer artists, craftsmen and website boutiques an opportunity to sell their products in an online shopping and networking site atmosphere. They are just getting started, so there are only a couple of members that sell ornaments, including the quilted Dusty Oak Ornaments which you may remember from a review we posted a few weeks back. Their other member that sells ornaments is Linda from RibbonsRosesandMore.com. Linda’s pretty ornaments are pictured above and she also created the Victorian White Pumpkin table ornament which you see pictured on the left.

There are three different levels of membership available on the exciting new mall, each having different benefits. This enables everyone to help promote each other, like a cottage community, ensuring everyone will receive the optimum number of visits and sales. Memberships start at $35.00 per month and there is a six month commitment. Good news! Shabby Cottage Shops will give new members who refer to Ornaments.com a special discount when they join! It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for ornament designers and although many members already have their ornaments displayed on other popular malls, it is not necessary that you have a website to be a part of Shabby Cottage Shops. Of course, if you do have unusual and high quality ornaments, we would love to also include your ornaments on the Ornaments.com Directory.

With the cute store names like Rose Cottage, French Cottage, and Cottage Park Drive, the navigation is easy and logical and they are receiving good reviews and interest. It will be fun to check back with them often as more members add ornaments to their “cottages”.

Article and images used with permission from ShabbyCottageShops.com.

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Handpainted Ornaments – Classic Masterpieces

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Discover the world of classic art with handpainted ornaments.

Most of us recognize DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, Whistler’s Mother, Degas’ ballerinas and Monet’s Waterlilies, but going to The Louvre or MOMA isn’t exactly an everyday thing. Just once in a lifetime to see these great works of art can be considered reaching a lifelong goal. But what if you could enjoy some classic works of art at least once a year on your Christmas tree? Would you like to see the classic works of art everyday on your desktop or bookshelf?

A great place to start is at EB Ornaments with their lovely hand painted glass Christmas ornaments of Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night and Edward Munch’s The Scream. Each handpainted ornament is slightly different, since the original works of art are on a flat surface and let’s face it, no one can do it quite as well as the original masters themselves. These classic glass ornaments are painted to be opaque, so that light will pass through easily and create a kaleidoscope of effects with Christmas lights or a desk lamp.

Classic art ornaments are one of those rare Christmas ornaments which could be given as a non-denominational gift to persons of another faith or any time during the year really. Elizabeth at EB Ornaments says that she has seen people of many different walks of life enjoying these two ornaments, not necessarily as Christmas ornaments, but because they relate to the ornaments in a personal way, and because the ornaments are original handmade gifts given anytime of year.

If you want to encourage your children to be interested in some of the classic masterpieces, purchasing a few ornaments depicting the masters’ great works is a great idea. You could display the ornaments around the house on shelves, tables, and even hang them from the ceiling using plant hangers. Displaying beautiful ornaments is a fine tool to familiarize your household with the classics.

Beautiful handpainted ornaments….art appreciation at its best!

Article and images used with permission from EB Ornaments.

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Honoring History – Limited Edition Ornaments

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

These unique collectible ornaments are not found in stores.

Although Barbara Kasmiroski’s online site called Babbee’s does not offer a vast selection of ornaments, you will find unusual and high quality collectible ornaments. Barbara commissions only one ornament each year and she researches and shares a little history about the subject of each ornament. Each of the handcrafted ornaments is sold exclusively at Babbee’s Ornaments , and there are less than 300 of each ornament design ever produced. Of course, that makes each historical ornament more valuable and more collectible as time goes by. You can still purchase the ornaments dating back to 2002.

The ornament chosen for 2009 is The Topper , which depicts the pyramid that sets atop the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. The historical miniature ornament is 1/18 scale and is solid brass finished. Although it can be hung with a hanger, it may be more suitable as a desk ornament and it fits in nicely with the other ornaments offered by Babbee’s Ornaments. Designs and production for future ornaments are kept closely under wraps, but we will stay in touch with Barbara and will keep you posted about what she might have in the works for 2010.

Article and images used with permission from Babbee’s.com.

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Fancy Pink Ornaments – Wedding Ornaments

Monday, September 14th, 2009

The quilted ornaments can be customized from your wedding materials.

The artist at Dusty Oak Ornaments is Sandy, and she says that she uses a very old pattern to create her ornaments, and that she has gradually adapted the vintage patterns to fit her own creative style. There is certainly nothing lacking in creativity here. From school bus ornaments to fancy pink silk ornaments, there really is something for everyone to enjoy in Sandy’s ornaments designs.

The quilted ornaments are handcrafted, using combinations of many types of fabrics and ribbons, including some designer fabrics. The customized ornaments are made to celebrate every holiday or special event and are perfect for year-round Christmas trees. A single ornament stand on a desk top or table can be changed out to add a little charm for holidays or seasonal changes.

Sandy says that her favorite ornaments to make are the wedding keepsake ornaments, because each bride has her own unique ornament made from the materials actually used for the wedding. “It’s such a joy to me to know that one of my ornaments has become a treasure and brings happy memories to its owner.” Sandy’s passion for the custom made ornaments is contagious and understandable as evidenced by the gallery of ornaments that she has produced over the years.

Dusty Oak Ornaments offers very nice pastel quilted ornaments that make lovely gifts for the Mom-to-be at baby showers or for a Baby’s first Christmas gift. The Fall Collection at Dusty Oak Ornaments is timely and clever and I’m sure you will want to bookmark her site to see what she has in store for Christmas ornaments this year as well.

Article and images used with permission from DustyOakOrnaments.com

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Ornament Girl – Fantastic Quilted Ornaments

Friday, August 28th, 2009

A Christmas hobby becomes a full time ornaments business…

When Staci Ann Lowry, ornament designer and owner of The Ornament Girl, learned the old fashioned technique behind quilted ball Christmas ornaments as a teenager, she had no idea that almost 15 years later it would become a full time ornaments business and way of life.

Although Staci Ann grew up in a very creative family and had always enjoyed crafting in many different forms, it was creating her “quilted” Christmas ornaments that continued to remain her favorite pastime. Using a painstaking folding and pinning method, her ornaments are handmade by meticulously layering many tiny pieces of ribbon and fabric, resulting in an intricate and stunning finished piece. Over time, she slowly began altering the out of date method she had originally learned into a sleeker and more contemporary ornament design, using sheer and glittering ribbons, fabrics, and trims.

It was the need of a little extra Christmas money in 2005 that jump started the transformation from an ornaments hobby into an ornaments business. Staci Ann decided to list a couple of her ornaments on the auction site eBay…and after one disappointing round of zero sales, her ornaments began to take off, and she suddenly could not make them fast enough. Shortly after, Staci Ann officially launched her own website, and The Ornament Girl was born. As Staci Ann explains it, what started out as a short-term way to make a little bit of extra money, turned out to be the unexpected beginning of a business. Since the opening of her website, The Ornament Girl has received international recognition for her stunning Christmas ornaments in several magazines and newspapers, and has a waiting list for her unique ornaments that extends for months.

It only takes a few minutes on The Ornament Girl’s website to see why. Her unique Christmas ornaments are entirely handcrafted from start to finish, and each ornament is then beautifully gift boxed with a dated keepsake collectors card, for a truly unique and heirloom quality presentation. She has several limited edition ornament collections, including her exclusive Candy and Snowflake Collections, as well as a line of designer fabric ornaments. She has also expanded beyond Christmas, creating ornaments for Halloween, Valentines Day, Easter , and many other holidays and occasions.

Because of the high demand for her handmade ornaments, Staci Ann rarely has any ornament designs available for immediate purchase from her website, but she willl gladly add any ornament orders to her ornaments waiting list.

Article and images used with permission from TheOrnamentGirl.com

 

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Old Chinese Art – New Incredible Ornaments

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

The ancient technique to create the ornaments is called reverse hand painting.

Ne’Qwa Art is the world’s largest producer of the centuries-old tradition of painting on the inside of glass. The same meticulous techniques that captivated emperors and art connoisseurs ages ago are used to create each of their lovely designs, including their most popular lines of decorative ornaments and petite ornaments. Although some scholars have dated the Chinese art form of painting on the inside of glass to over 1000 years ago, it was not until the mid-17th century that it became a prized and collected art form within the imperial court.

The artists at Ne’Qwa Art must paint through a small opening in the ornament on the inside of the glass. To paint in this art form, the artist has to paint in reverse order with the foreground completed first and then finish with the background. Certain ornaments used are opaque mouth-blown glass. These ornaments don’t allow the artist to see the tip of the brush and all painting must be done by “feel”. Through a small opening in each ornament, the artist uses delicate brush strokes to hand-paint on the inside of mouth-blown glass. From outlining to shading to color application, all work is painstakingly done in freehand. Although this reverse-painting art form flourished during the 17th century, today there are only a few artist groups, living in remote villages throughout China, who possess the skill to create these Ne’Qwa ornaments. The carefully chosen artists at Ne’Qwa Art offer stunning diversity of subject matter, ranging from whimsical characters to sensuously rich details.

Their distinguished artists have built a following of fans worldwide who recognize their distinctive styles. Collected by celebrities across the globe, these amazing ornaments are enjoyed as perfect gifts for any occasion. You will recognize several names & faces on the celebrity gift list who appreciate these outstanding hand painted glass ornaments. Each piece comes packaged in a luxurious, satin-lined, velour presentation case, ideal for gift giving. In addition, each ornament is accompanied by a signed Certificate of Authenticity describing the unique art history and reverse painting process.

Take a look at Ne’Qwa Art’s online video to see the artist at work and watch how the incredible images are magically created on the inside of glass. After all… true beauty comes from within.

Article and images used with permission from NeQwa.com

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Great New Wedding Favor Was Born…

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Ornaments are the most appreciated favor for wedding guests.

For about five or six years, starting in the early 1990′s, Jeanne Barnett, through her company Orna Mentz would sell her unique designs of Victorian Style Christmas Tree Ornaments in Christmas Shoppes and Craft and Art shows around the Delaware/Pennsylvania/New Jersey areas, including the world famous Longwood Gardens. She even had a chance to appear on the popular home shopping television venue  in 1995, competing with hundreds of vendors from the State of Delaware for one of 20 spots on the QVC 50-50 tour.

However, it wasn’t until the birth and growth of Internet Shopping that Orna Mentz found it’s best market. It was a market that quite literally found us!Jeanne explained, “We began to get requests from brides who were getting married around Christmas time to see if we could gift-box the ornaments and add a little guest tag so they could give them out as their wedding guest favors.” We said “What a Great Idea!” And so a great new Wedding Guest Favor was born.

Jeanne’s ornaments are all 100% handmade, right in her Virginia workshop, using the finest trims and her own special blends of pearlised color accents, and the popularity of the wedding favors has continued to grow.  “We’ve even had brides come to me who had been a guest at a wedding several years before, and then immediately remembered Orna Mentz when it was their turn to get married. To me, there is no better compliment.”

Currently, weddings account for over half of all of Orna Mentz’s yearly sales providing the guest favors for Christmas brides in the US and all over the world, including England, Ireland, Italy and Canada.  “So often I’ll get a nice little note back from the brides telling me how happy their guests were with their favors!”  Jeanne went on to say, “I’ve even been told that some of the guests sent thank-you notes back to the bride! Now that is really something.”

If you’re getting married this Christmas, you really owe it to yourself to check out the Gift-boxed Ornament Wedding Favors offered by Orna Mentz.

Article and images used with permission from OrnaMentz.com

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Ornaments Artist Unleashes Potential of Wood

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Christine Coffman has turned her artwork into a thriving business.

At age 12 Christine Coffman asked her father to teach her to carve. That was 46 years ago in Garden City Michigan. Over time her own style developed and people began to see her Polish and German heritage in her work. Listening to advice from fellow carvers, she learned to be more detail oriented. She also learned that she was not so much a woodcarver, but an artist who worked in wood.

Coffman draws her own ornament and figurine patterns and then forces the figure from the wood. She uses both Butternut wood and Linden wood, also known as Bass wood. Linden wood is used due to the perfect pairing of its properties to her needs. Linden wood is light and strong. The grain is straight and allows fine knife strokes to create a smooth surface. Butternut wood is used for its interesting grain patterns. Both woods are native to the eastern United States.

Ornaments were a natural extension of her artwork. Each ornament is still a tiny, original sculpture that looks natural hanging by a string. Granted, sometimes the cats or elephants ornaments are hanging by their tails, but who is to say that is not perfectly natural?

By drawing her own ornament patterns, Christine is able to change them on a whim. She will use a basic outline to start the carving but by giving each ornament carving different details, she creates very different looks. That premise carries over to every ornament figure she carves. The little children ornaments may be described simply as being dressed in pajamas or nightgowns and holding onto the string with one hand, but once carved, each child has his or her own distinct look. The wooden ornaments at Christmas-Carvings are not limited in design. You will find nativity sets, wooden santas, cat figurines and much more. With Christine Coffman’s talents and skills, a piece of wood is pure potential.

Article and images used with permission from Christmas-Carvings.com

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