Tim and Beth Merck keep the spirit of German glass ornaments alive.
The tradition of blown glass ornaments is known to have started in a small German town called Lauscha, sometime in the late 16th century. Originally, only glass balls were produced, but in 1847 Hans Greiner began producing glass ornaments in the shape of fruits and nuts using a glass blowing process that utilized molds to create the unique shapes. These glass ornaments were distributed throughout Europe, and in the 1880’s Woolworth’s began importing these German glass ornaments to sell in the United States – which soon proved to be a very lucrative business move.
In 1979, Tim and Beth Merck’s love of Christmas and its traditions inspired them to begin revitalizing the fine art of mouth-blown glass ornaments. Today, Merck Family’s Old World Christmas is a well known wholesale ornament producer, offering hundreds of fine glass ornaments from traditional fruit and nuts to all varieties of animals, cars, decorative bells and balls, flowers, houses and churches, angels, pirates, various renditions of Santa Claus, and much more.
Producing glass blown Christmas ornaments like the pieces offered by the Merck Family is a labor-intensive process that involves mouth-blowing molten glass into a mold and then pouring a hot solution of liquid silver inside the ornament. The Merck Family’s Old World Christmas ornaments are then hand-painted with fine details and dusted with glitter to add an even more magical appeal.
While the tradition of blown glass ornaments has been around since the 16th century, the grand appeal of these whimsical ornaments has not lost any of its popularity. Old World Christmas ornaments are hand made with pride. Browse the staggering collection of glass ornaments by Old World Christmas at the Christmas Treasures website.
Article and images used with permission from Christmas-Treasures.com
