Own business: production of Christmas tree decorations. Making Christmas tree decorations: necessary equipment and cost calculation. We learn to make Christmas tree toys with our own hands from anything. Interesting options for combinations of New Year's toys in the interior
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For b excursion booking tel.: +7 495 795 10 95; +7 916 855 11 47
We invite you to a magical workshop, where the miracle of a New Year's toy is born. All year round, skilled and talented glass craftsmen work tirelessly here to please you on New Year's days, fabulous decoration- Christmas tree toy!
This demonstration enterprise is located not far from Moscow and offers you a fascinating, interactive tour of the production of unique Christmas tree decorations self made. The uniqueness of the excursion is that there are a minimum of prohibitions here, and a lot is possible here. Realize your fantasy, touch everything and try to make it yourself. Your guides will be talented master artists, passionate about their profession, who have created thousands of New Year's masterpieces.
Program:
1. A fascinating excursion into the history of New Year celebrations.
In a magical room, in a fabulous forest clearing, a bonfire awaits you, snow-covered fir trees decorated with amazing New Year's toys. Everything is possible here, even magic! Do you want to play in the snow? Please! Don't believe that you can install a Christmas tree on the ceiling? You'll see!
To prepare you for visiting the production, you will be shown an educational film about how a toy is created, and what path it takes from the master’s idea to the store counter!
2. Visit to the production facility, where you can get acquainted with the full production cycle of glass Christmas tree decorations. You will see how a glass tube turns into a beautiful, unusually shaped Christmas tree toy, then it takes on shape, color, is covered with sparkles, and decorated.
And most importantly, you will not only be shown the process that in most factories takes place behind glass, but
3. Master class where you will learn how to paint and decorate a toy. Take the toy with you!
4. Tea with sweets.
5. Presentation of gifts from the factory
6. Profitable New Year's shopping. In the company store at the factory you will be offered a large selection of exclusive New Year's decorations. All toys are handmade, it's wonderful New Year's gift for yourself and your loved ones!
The price includes: transport services (tourist class bus), accompanying services, tour of the production, tea party, master class, gift.
PRICES:
Factory Christmas decorations"Yelochka", Vysokovsk
8 916 855 11 47
| Excursion dates: December 15, 22 |
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The unique, ancient factory of Christmas tree decorations "Yolochka" is located in the town of Vysokovsk near Moscow, 10 km from the city of Klin and 85 km from Moscow.
Decorating a Christmas tree for Christmas and New Year is a kind of ritual that symbolizes the miracle of renewal, rebirth, it is a ritual that returns us all to the mysterious New Year holiday of our childhood. In Russia, this custom became generally accepted at the beginning of the 19th century.
During the excursion you will visit the production facility, where you will see the birth of a hand-blown and hand-painted New Year's toy. These are balls of various sizes, tops, figures, pendants, sets and garlands.
After the excursion, you will have a unique opportunity to visit a store selling Christmas tree decorations that will decorate your Christmas tree and your interior, make the New Year holidays magical and bright, and help you feel the fabulous aroma of your favorite childhood holiday!
Travel time: 2.5 - 3 hours.
Leningradskoe highway, 120 km.
Duration of the excursion: 8.5 - 9 hours
Travel information.
Visit to the plant for the production of Christmas tree decorations JSC "Yelochka"
- Factory Museum
- Visit to production: acquaintance with the technological production chain from the zero cycle to product output,
visiting workshops: glass blowing, painting and drying, painting.
- A visit to the company store, where you can purchase unusually beautiful glass Christmas tree decorations produced by the Elochka OJSC factory.
- A gift for every tourist from JSC “Yolochka”
The price includes:
VISITING THE CHRISTMAS TREE (city of KLIN, MUSEUM OF CHRISTMAS TOYS “KLINSKOYE VORIE”)
Excursion booking phone number: +7 916 855 11 47
We invite you to the ancient town of Klin, located near Moscow, which is 85 km away. from Moscow. Here you will visit the unique and only museum of Christmas tree decorations in Russia “Klinskoye Podvorye”, where you will find an exciting journey through the country “Glassland”. New Year's fairy tale in your home! Decorating a Christmas tree for Christmas and New Year is a kind of ritual that symbolizes the miracle of renewal, rebirth, it is a ritual that returns us all to the mysterious New Year holiday of our childhood. In Russia, this custom became generally accepted at the beginning of the 19th century. Gradually, gingerbread cookies, sweets, nuts and gifts began to replace elegant toys, primarily glass ones. You have a unique opportunity to visit the Yolochka Christmas tree decorations factory and see it all with your own eyes. During the excursion you will visit the production facility, where you will see the birth of a hand-blown and hand-painted New Year's toy. These are balls of various sizes, tops, figures, pendants, sets and garlands. Our guests will also have a unique opportunity to visit a store selling Christmas tree decorations that will decorate your tree and your interior, make the New Year holidays magical and bright, and help you feel the fabulous aroma of your favorite childhood holiday!
About the museum of Christmas tree decorations “Klinskoye Compound”:
The exhibition complex consists of 12 halls that will tell you about the origin and development of the glass industry on Klin land. You will be taken to new world With rich history Christmas decorations and watch the difficult work of glassblowers and talented artists.
In the first hall of our complex you will be greeted by a Christmas tree decorated with sugar roses and apples. The tradition of decorating the Christmas tree goes back centuries. In the 19th century, the festive tree was decorated with all kinds of sweets, nuts, apples, and funny figures made of paper, cardboard, fabric and foil. And in 1848, in the town of Lauscha in Germany, the first glass Christmas balls. They were covered with a layer of lead on the inside and decorated with sparkles on the outside.
The Christmas tree outfit changed depending on fashion. In Rus', they always tried to dress up the forest beauty like a king. The whole family made Christmas tree decorations. And those who had the means, bought multi-colored glass balls from artisan glassblowers.
In the second hall you find yourself in a peasant hut from the end of the 19th century. You will see workplace master glassblower, leather furs, which maintained the fire in the burner, metal molds for making beads.
Entering the glass blowing shop, you will see the “birth” of a glass toy. The master, rotating the glass tube - the dart - with both hands, heats it in the flame of a gas burner until the glass becomes soft, and begins to blow through the hole in the tube - the tendril. A wonderful transformation of the glass blank into a ball, bell, or heart takes place!
Artists paint kind smiles for Santa Clauses and “lay” snow on the roofs fairy houses, sprinkle them with “gold” and “silver”. Then the toys are “reinforced” - a tin cap with a wire is put on each one.
This is how amazing and very fragile Christmas tree decorations appear in our homes and decorate the coniferous beauties under New Year.
For some, a visit to a fairy-tale museum awakens nostalgia for a bygone childhood, while for others it plunges them into romantic dreams. Miracle trees, fantasy trees greet you as the most dear guests and dazzle you with their beauty. All visitors are happy to make a cherished wish near the 10-meter Christmas tree - the queen of the Klin tower!
In the master class, children and adults can try themselves in the role of a specialist in making New Year's miracle, they will paint a real glass ball themselves and take it with them as a souvenir of their visit to an extraordinary museum!
Travel time: ≈2 hours.
Leningradskoe highway, ≈100 km.
Excursion program:
Travel information.
Visit to the museum of Christmas tree decorations "Klinskoye Compound":
- visit to mini-production.
- a visit to the company store, where you can purchase unusually beautiful glass Christmas tree decorations produced by the Elochka OJSC factory
- Present.
The price includes: transport services (tourist class buses), entrance tickets to all museums according to the program, services of an accompanying guide, gift.
PRICES:
SANTA'S BIRTHDAY
WITH AN INTERACTIVE PROGRAM AND MUSEUM OF CHRISTMAS TOYS “KLINSKOYE VORYE”
Excursion booking phone number: +7 916 855 11 47
Do you know that Santa Claus also has a birthday? We invite you to visit the fairyland where Santa Claus lives and where New Year's miracles are born!
We all love New Year since childhood. It's always an expectation of a miracle, magical night when your most cherished wish can come true. We are preparing for the holiday by decorating Christmas tree wonderful Christmas tree decorations.
On Santa Claus's birthday we will go to a very unusual, fabulous place - a factory where Christmas tree decorations are born. This is the fairy-tale country “Glassland”. waiting for you interactive show. Each room has its own surprise. You will be met fairy-tale heroes and, with their help you will be able to complete a fabulous task and receive prizes from Santa Claus.
You will see how Christmas tree decorations are made by hand - it is very interesting and entertaining! How thin-walled glass is born from fire " soap bubbles”, which are then painted in fun shiny colors and painted with a brush.
You will also be able to visit in the unique museum of Christmas decorations “Klinskoe Podvorie”. You will find out where the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree came from. This is a very ancient tradition. Initially, gifts brought to the spirits of deceased ancestors were hung on a real living spruce: pieces of candied apples, nuts made from tow dolls. The richer the gifts were, the more generously the ancient gods bestowed gifts on people. Later, after the adoption of Christianity, they began to hang gilded and silver-plated angels, sweet gingerbread cookies, wrap nuts in colored paper, and decorate the top of the spruce tree. Star of Bethlehem. Under Soviet rule, Christmas trees were banned at one time; later, Stalin himself restored the tradition of Christmas trees - he organized the main Christmas tree of the country - the Kremlin.
At the Christmas tree decorations factory you see the fascinating process of birthing New Year's balls. The master, rotating the glass tube - the dart - with both hands, heats it in the flame of a gas burner until the glass becomes soft, and begins to blow through the hole in the tube - the tendril. A wonderful transformation of the glass blank into a ball, bell, or heart takes place!
Artists paint kind smiles for Santa Clauses, “lay” snow on the roofs of fairy-tale houses, and sprinkle them with “gold” and “silver.” Then the toys are “reinforced” - a tin cap with a wire is put on each one.
We, modern people, we have long forgotten how the traditions of decorating Christmas trees began, but still, when hanging toys on the Christmas tree, we make our deepest wishes and imagine that a heart is new love in the coming year, the doll is a new human life, the nuts are wealth and prosperity, and Father Frost and the Snow Maiden will bring absolutely incredible, kind miracles.
Travel time: ≈2-2.5 hours.
Leningradskoe highway, ≈100 km.
Tour duration: ≈8 hours
Excursion program:
Travel information.
Visit to the Klin Compound Christmas tree museum:
- an exhibition of unique Christmas tree decorations.
- visit to a mini-production with an interactive program “Santa Claus's Birthday”.
- a visit to the company store, where you can purchase unusually beautiful glass Christmas tree decorations produced by the Elochka OJSC factory.
- Present.
The price includes: transport services (tourist class buses), entrance tickets to all museums according to the program, interactive program, guide services.
FACTORY OF CHRISTMAS TOYS IN PAVLOVSKY POSAD
 holiday of childhood! Low Prices and Great Assortment New Year's toys You will be pleasantly surprised in the company store at the factory! And in conclusion, you will have a sightseeing tour of the city of Pavlovsky Posad. We will visit the only one in the world " Museum of Scarf and Shawl", let us venerate the relics of the Righteous Basil of Pavlovo Posad in Pokrovsko-Vasilievsky Monastery, and before leaving the city Let's give ourselves a luxurious gift - a real Pavloposad shawl.
Full of impressions, in in a great mood, with magnificent gifts for the New Year and Christmas, we are returning to Moscow! The trip will be amazing! * * * Current dates, prices and information on availability of seats for the specified excursions as part of for more information please call: +7 916 855 1147; +7 495 795 10 95 |
Unfortunately, now the market for Christmas tree decorations is all Chinese stampings made of plastic. But in Russia there are excellent factories of real glass Christmas tree decorations! Yes, a different price category, but such beauty is worth it...
Handmade Christmas tree decoration factories operate in Sokolniki, Karachev, Bryansk region, Krasnoyarsk, Selizharovo village, Tver region, village. Danilovo, Pavlovo-Posad district, there are probably others.... It’s simply impossible to talk about all the factories in one post, so the story is about two factories to present the process.
Factory Christmas tree decorations"Ariel" (Nizhny Novgorod) has been producing for 20 years. Here all year round - in spring, summer, autumn, and winter - they make Christmas balls and funny glass figurines, which then decorate Christmas trees in different countries peace.
What a beauty!
You can make a special order and the balloons will be printed with images according to your order. For example, a series commissioned by the metro:
And in the collection of Nizhny Novgorod artists there are balloons with the image of Barack Obama. The craftsmen say that they received a special order for their production from the US Presidential Administration in 2009. The approval took a long time and was not easy: first, the artists painted an image of Obama with a wide smile on the ball, because they knew that this charming smile was his calling card. But the Americans said that the president in the image was “too cheerful” and asked to portray him more sternly. As a result, the option with a discreet smile was adopted as the basis. And the broadly smiling Obama remained as a souvenir for Nizhny Novgorod residents!
Only women work in production; their only man is the director. He also came up with the idea to make rafters for the roof in the form of a herringbone:
You can also buy their toys here.
Every day the factory receives 16 excursion groups! About 300 children of different ages- from elementary school students to school graduates and technical school students - come to the factory to get acquainted with the process of creating Christmas tree toys.
So, the process itself...
The factory's chief artist develops sketches and comes up with stories that will then be applied to jewelry.
The following long glass blanks are supplied to production:
The stick is heated and divided into several small pieces.
Heated, pulled:
Divided:
This workshop occupies one small office and only 4 people work here.
There are 3 times more artists than glassblowers:
Each artist paints a specific subject. All this is done by hand, but the designs on the balls are almost indistinguishable from each other:
The drawing is applied in several stages: a toy is taken and one layer of paint is applied while the paint dries on it, the artist applies the main color to the second toy, etc. Then the artist returns to the first one and draws part of the plot and again hangs the toy, etc.
Production is relatively small. The factory is located in this cute little house:
Factory "Yelochka" (Klin) has been making Christmas tree decorations for over 50 years.
The first workshops for the production of Christmas tree decorations opened in the Klinsky district in the middle of the 19th century. This happened after Prince Alexander Menshikov built a small glass-blowing factory here in 1848. Local peasants, having worked in production, equipped home workshops, from where the first Russian Christmas tree decorations made of glass came out.
For a century and a half, the process of making toys has undergone almost no changes. Is it possible that the workers who fanned the fire using leather bellows were replaced by burners running on compressed gas...
Working with glass requires extreme concentration and experience. The drone (glass blank) is first heated to desired temperature, and then a ball or figurative toy is blown out of it. The main thing for the master is to catch the right moment, when the drone is already quite flexible, but not too soft. Miss a second and nothing will happen.
Because of its shape, the “Swan” is considered one of the most difficult Christmas tree decorations to produce.
There is a lot of noise in the glass blowing shop. Some workers use headphones, but most have long since become accustomed to it.
Mostly women work in production - men do not have enough patience for this craft. Typically, a glass blowing shop employs 17-20 people. Most came here right after finishing school.
The next stage of production is metallization. In special vacuum chambers, toys are coated with a thin layer of aluminum, which makes their surface mirror-like.
After metallization, the toys are painted. Of course, also manually.
The ball is simply dipped into a container of paint and then left to dry for several hours.
Unlike balls, toys with complex shapes cannot be painted evenly without using a spray bottle.
December is the peak season for the company. On the eve of the New Year, “Yolochka” is working in intensive mode.
After painting, the toys are sent to the painting workshop, where drawings are applied to them using pre-prepared samples.
Checking with Chinese calendar, the company annually produces toys depicting the symbol of the coming year.
In addition to the interesting work, what keeps many people at Yolochka is their good salary, by local standards.
From time to time, the company receives corporate orders. Usually they are asked to depict a company logo or some item related to its activities on toys.
After painting, the “tails” of the toys are cut off - they will no longer be useful.
Sawing is one of the few processes in production that is automated.
Some toys are stripped of their “tails” manually. The holder is inserted into the resulting holes.
The finished toys are packed into boxes and sent to store shelves, to you and me.
Handmade Christmas tree toys are reminiscent of our toys from childhood. Looking at them, you understand that these are the Christmas tree decorations, or very similar to them, that our parents hung on the Christmas tree. And before them - their parents. Going through cardboard box Christmas decorations like these make you experience indescribable nostalgia and unity with the past and future. This cannot be explained in words. You just need to start decorating the Christmas tree with hand-painted toys!
Today, stores have a huge selection of a wide variety of fashionable and stylish jewelry for every taste and budget. Some even change the New Year's tree style and the apartment as a whole every year.
However, despite all the variety and wonders of design, nothing can replace handmade toys and decorations. They will not only add variety to the “cold” decor from the store. The process itself will certainly give you a lot of positive emotions and vivid impressions, and a fabulous atmosphere will reign in your home long before New Year's Eve. It will be especially pleasant for children to look at the fruits of their labor. And adults will certainly appreciate your attempts to create a cozy festive atmosphere.
In order to do this you don’t need much - desire and imagination. The materials you can use are available at home: colored and wrapping paper, ribbons, beads, pine cones, buttons and even old newspapers. And even if ideas don’t come to you at all, you can “call for help” on the Internet.
New Year's crafts from CDs: making New Year decorations from old CDs
Surely in every house there are old unnecessary disks that are a pity to throw away. They can be used on the eve of the New Year holidays to create stylish and unusual toys that will look great on the Christmas tree.
You don't need much for this - old disk, cut into pieces, and the most ordinary toy, you can take an old and already boring one. Having thoroughly coated it with glue, attach the “shards” of the disk to the surface in a random order. That's basically it. Stylish decoration, which will perfectly “play” with light is ready.
However, from old CDs you can make not only a Christmas ball, but also much more.
Winter is already sweeping through the city, the days have become shorter, but the evenings last forever. What to do with your children besides tablets, computers and TVs? Well, of course, New Year's crafts. In addition, this type of activity will engage not only children, but also adults. The main thing is to approach this activity with enthusiasm! What are New Year's crafts made from? […]
New Year's crafts from felt: making felt decorations with your own hands for the New Year
Jewelry and toys made from felt material, look very impressive and unusual. You can buy such fabric in any store for purely symbolic money, especially since you can make dozens of interesting figures from a couple of meters. Multi-colored material will give you a lot of possibilities, and the flight of your imagination will be almost unlimited.
After the various figures are sewn, they can be hung around the apartment “one by one”, you can decorate the Christmas tree instead of toys, or you can put them together in a festive garland. In any case, it will look great.
By the way, a small and neat Christmas tree, star or angel can become not only a decoration, but also an excellent “warm” souvenir for friends and family. They will certainly appreciate the effort and care you put in.
See more:
Approaching new year holidays, which means that very soon a forest guest will appear in almost every house in our country. Some people prefer to put up an artificial Christmas tree, some prefer to put up a real forest spruce from a Christmas market, and some even confine themselves to pine branches. However, this is not so important, because the most important feature of the New Year tree is the toys. Since ancient times, people in [...]
New Year's crafts from cardboard or postcards
To decorate the Christmas tree unusual toys— no need to run around stores looking for something that others don’t have. All you need to do is find thick cardboard at home (colorful magazine covers, old postcards, or, in extreme cases, ordinary colored sheets from a set will do - the main thing is that they are double-sided), glue and scissors.
The first thing to do is cut out 8 circles of the same size (about the size of the neck of a regular glass, maybe a little larger or smaller), and 2 more a little smaller. After this, the large circles are folded in half twice (to end up with a quarter). The preparations are ready. Four of them need to be glued to one small circle, four more to another.
After this, the pockets are carefully melted, and the two halves of the toy are glued together. All that remains is to attach a beautiful ribbon and you can hang the original cardboard ball on the Christmas tree. And if you cover it with varnish or glitter, hardly anyone will guess where such a stylish toy came from.
Cardboard balls are especially fun to make with kids. The technique is not too complicated, so they will be happy to take part in making Christmas tree decorations, and then all the holidays they will be proud of their masterpieces that have decorated the furry beauty.
See more ideas:
Time runs inexorably forward and now white flies are flying outside the window, slowly falling to the ground and covering everything around with a snow-white fluffy blanket. However, despite the cold, my soul is warm and joyful. And all because suddenly appearing snowflakes herald the coming of the New Year. Most main holiday The year is already very close, which means it’s time to think […]
Christmas balls made of threads
Thread balls are one of the most fashionable hand-made techniques today. Moreover, it is used not only to create New Year’s, but also everyday decor. In any case, such compositions and toys will not only enliven your holiday interior, but also make it unique.
To create a masterpiece you will need threads (you can use leftover yarn, or you can buy multi-colored skeins in the store), PVA glue and balloons. The mechanism is simple. The balloon is inflated to the right size, after which it is wrapped with threads previously soaked in glue. This needs to be done quite tightly, leaving only small gaps.
After the first stage is completed, the toy needs to be dried thoroughly. As a rule, a day is enough for this. If during this time thread ball has become hard, you can proceed to the finale - piercing and removing the remains of the balloon.
To decorate a thread ball, you can use any elements - beads, braid, rain, tinsel... In general, a complete flight of imagination. The same goes for “assembling” the finished composition. They look very impressive thread balls, suspended at different heights from the ceiling.
See more ideas Christmas balls:
Today you can find a huge number of different Christmas tree decorations on store shelves, so turning an ordinary Christmas tree into a real holiday beauty is not difficult. However, New Year is a special day! The day when old year remains behind, and new adventures, new events, new victories await ahead. But the old year did not pass without a trace, […]
Holiday wreaths
New Year's wreath - fashion decoration, which can be purchased at almost any store. However, it is much more pleasant to make a composition with your own hands, putting the warmth of your soul into it. The material can be anything. For example, cones.
Making a wreath of pine cones begins with a base, which can be wire, willow twigs or something else that can easily be “formed” into a circle. Cones are attached to the base using liquid nails. You need to arrange them as much as possible closer friend to a friend so that the wreath looks “lush”.
After the main part of the work is done, you can start decorating. For example, cover the cones with colored varnish and “dilute” them with small toys, rain or tinsel. That's basically it. All that remains is to find suitable place in order to place a New Year's masterpiece. It shouldn't go unnoticed.
See more:
Preparing for the New Year is sometimes even more enjoyable than the celebration itself. The whole family, including the youngest residents, can take part in the interior decorating process. You can decorate your apartment or house for the New Year holidays in the most in different ways, but recently New Year’s wreaths, which we are better known from the romantic Christmas films of Hollywood, have become very popular. However, fashionable […]
Japanese crafts kanzashi
New this season in the field of decoration - decorations made in Japanese technology kanzashi. They can be of any shape - Christmas tree, flower, snowflakes... separately or in a group. By the way, this is an excellent option not only for Christmas tree decorations, but also as a gift, as well as elements of a holiday costume.
In their homeland, Japan, they symbolize closeness with nature. For us, they are more of a cute souvenir than something ideologically significant. To make something in the kanzashi style you don’t need much - silk ribbons and desire!
Festive headband with snowflakes in Japanese technique
Thanks to the Japanese, anyone can bring joy to little and big princesses by making a wonderful headband that resembles a snowflake. It will not only complement the corresponding suit, but will certainly become the missing highlight for any New Year's hairstyle.
So, in order to make such a wonderful accessory you will need:
- blanks from silver, blue and white ribbons (silver ones should be cut into squares measuring 2*2 centimeters, white ones - 5*5 centimeters, blue ones - 2.5*2.5 centimeters, in total you should get at least 42 squares of each color);
- glue gun;
- white headband (if there is a headband of a different color, it can be easily turned into white by braiding it with ribbon);
- scissors;
- Snowflake blank measuring 3*3 centimeters.
So, after all the materials and workpieces are ready, you can begin work.
The first thing you need to make is 6 round petals from white squares. They should be the largest, as they will form the “middle” of the future flower. Then - 12 triangular petals too white, but they will turn out a little smaller in size. Next, from 12 triangular blanks (white and blue), fold six petals consisting of two colors. And finally, the final touch of the preparatory stage is 42 small, silver petals. The edges of each workpiece must be scorched with a lighter so that they do not fall apart in the future. Otherwise, it may be an unpleasant surprise for the person for whom the headband is intended.
After the petals are finished, you can wrap the snowflake with white ribbon, attach it to the rim and, finally, collect the first petals in the “heart of the flower.” Its base will consist of 6 large white petals that need to be glued together. Under no circumstances should they fall apart! After that, to each petal you can attach a blue and white composition of three more (two white petals on the edges and a two-color one in the center). And finally, each detail should be complemented by a small silver petal, which is inserted directly into the center of the glossy ones. The result should be something like a “fluffy” flower.
The finished composition can be decorated with sparkles, beads or anything else - at your discretion. The only thing that is not recommended is to coat it with varnish, this can ruin the appearance.
Using this technique and from the same ribbons, you can make not only a headband, but also beautiful snowflakes. They will become an excellent alternative traditional Christmas tree decorations and even a souvenir for family and friends, who will certainly appreciate your originality and warmth invested in such a gift.
We have more master classes on crafts using the kanzashi technique: New Year's holidays are ahead and it's time to start decorating. You can make decorations for the New Year in the most different materials, such as paper, beads, pine cones, and even from old CDs. But in this article we will talk about New Year's crafts from satin ribbons. Crafts can be simple or made using a special Japanese technique - kanzashi. Christmas tree Let's start our crafts [...]
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The Village visited the Nizhny Novgorod factory of glass Christmas tree decorations "Ariel" and learned how elegant New Year's figures are born.
Photos
Ilya Bolshakov
It’s hard to imagine, but from 1927 to 1935, neither New Year nor Christmas were celebrated in the Soviet Union - they were seen as an ideological threat. But then the tradition came to life and began to develop with renewed vigor, albeit with a flavor of propaganda. The Ariel factory, founded in 1996, is one of only two year-round production facilities in the country. She is also the legal successor of the glassblowing and art workshop of the Gorky artel "Children's Toy", opened in 1936. After the holiday was returned to the people, standards for making toys and methodological manuals for teachers, how to properly decorate a Christmas tree with children, because each era had its own symbolism, designed to strengthen the spirit of citizens, faith in leaders, and the list goes on. If you remember the retro figurines, it’s easy to guess during whose reign they hung, for example, corn and onions on Christmas trees. All forms were developed and approved centrally, and ready-made samples were sent for production. Today, everything is dictated mainly by fashion, and factories themselves decide what and how they will do.
Idea development
Creativity at this stage can refer to both the shape of the toy and the pattern on it. Specially created creative group artists develops several options for new decoration, inspired and fashion trends, and traditional symbols of the year, and retro motifs. Next, the chief artist approves those samples that will go into production. If it is a ball with a new design, then the approved version becomes the standard from which the craftsmen will copy everything. If new figure, then the ceramic mold is sent to the glassblowers for production.
Working with glass
As a raw material, the factory purchases glass darts - hollow tubes one and a half meters high. Everything you need to turn this dart into beautiful figures, - a gas burner with a temperature of 650 degrees and the skill of a glass blower. The flame quickly heats the tube, the glass becomes plastic, which allows you to separate a small piece from it for further work - “pulling out the bullet.” You can make any toy out of it, but first you need to heat its main part again.
When the master understands that the glass has melted enough (and this can only be understood through experience and intuition, because touching it with your hands or measuring the temperature will not work), he removes the bullet from the fire and begins to blow air into it through one of the “whiskers” - long ends of the workpiece. The air from inside pushes the walls and, constantly turning the bullet in his hands, the glass blower blows out the ball, and then heats the mustache, twists and tears it off. All handmade balls are not perfectly smooth, but it is almost impossible to notice.
If you need to make a figurine from the blank, for example, a snowman, it is also heated, but before blowing it is placed in a ceramic mold. Air is then blown through the mustache in the same way, but the glass expands exactly as far as the walls of the mold allow.
Okolpachka
After blowing, the toys are sent to the paint shop, where they are given color: pink gloss, matte chocolate. For the remaining mustache, they are dipped into a barrel of varnish and placed on a stand until dry. Then this mustache is cut off and a cap is put on, the same one into which the thread is threaded to hang the toy on the Christmas tree. For some toys, these stages become final; they are packaged and sent to customers.
painting
This is the longest and most labor-intensive process, because the artist literally draws a picture on every piece. But this is precisely what makes the factory so remarkable and the toys so in demand. Over the years of work, it has developed its own recognizable school of painting, detailed and realistic. And orders come not only from other regions, but also from Europe and the USA. For comparison, there are only four glassblowers in the state, and sixty artists.
Each of them has a rack on the table where toys are hung, acrylic paints, brushes and water, palette, napkins and the sample itself. Since painting occurs step by step, one master has several items in his work at the same time, and it is difficult to count how many times a day each of them is picked up and hung back. First, the underpainting is applied - the main color spots, then the details, from large to small. If you need to draw a house, then first draw the first wall on all the balls, followed by the second. This helps save paint and the craftsman’s time.
Since the main audience is children, four thematic workshops for independent painting were created for them: confectionery, sea, space and fantasy. Each child brings home from an excursion a toy decorated with his own drawing, although far from perfect, but no less valuable. Next to the workshops there is a museum with many works produced throughout the history of the glass Christmas tree decoration, and photo zones conventionally divided into eras and styles. Here you can see both a traditional retro Christmas tree with toys on clothespins, pioneers and corn, and very conceptual metal pyramid frames decorated with black glossy balls. But what is most surprising is that this working atmosphere with a year-round holiday does not discourage factory workers in the least from decorating Christmas trees at home. The only thing that has changed since they came here is that the approach to choosing jewelry has become more conscious and thoughtful.
