How Christmas tree decorations are made. Report from the factory

I’ve been working in a glass workshop for almost a year now, which is also an online store selling glass and related products. After your shift, you can stay and do something for your soul. My colleagues make mostly beads and beads, with all sorts of spots, dots, flowers, stripes.

I have a somewhat neutral attitude towards decorations, but I love making small animals. My favorite animals are turtles. I started making them six months ago and automated the process completely. Today I will tell you how that little pop-eyed one with the red shell was made.

First you need to organize your workspace and choose from the entire set of glass exactly the one you want to work with. You need to work in tinted safety glasses, so it is better to choose colors in advance. Red is needed for the shell, yellow and orange for simple pattern, blue on the left for the paws and head, and white, black and blue on the right for the eyes.

In the picture on the left, there is a mandrel on a stand on the edge. This is a steel rod with a separator applied to it. Molten glass is applied to the mandrel, and the separator prevents the glass from firmly sticking to the metal. After the work is completed and the glass has cooled, this separator can simply be scraped off with a diamond file.
Here is a mandrel, here is a burner (a mixture of oxygen and propane), here is a mandrel in the fire of a burner. All work is carried out under a hood, since we have eight workstations in the workshop and without a hood it would be very hot and stuffy. And this is also required by safety precautions.

Now I need to melt the glass. Usually they work with two hands. In one hand there is a mandrel, in the other hand there are glass rods (for left-handed people, vice versa). When I want to photograph glass, I briefly remove the mandrel from the flame, it will not die from this, it will just need to be reheated later.
When heated, different types of glass behave differently. Red glass turns black. Yellow glass turns red. White glass becomes transparent. And if the glass is heated further until it melts, then it glows with such a bright yellow light, like, well, I don’t know what, look for comparisons yourself, you can see in the third picture:

This drop should be spread on the mandrel. Melt the tip of the glass rod again. Spread again, melt again. I’ll show you how exactly the spreading process happens and how to separate the drop from the stick some other time, when a third hand grows up to take photos. When there is enough glass on a mandrel, it is fused around the tip of the mandrel and the result is a half-bead. You need to take it out of the fire and make sure that the liquid glass does not glass. What if it's glass? Well, glass is glass, it’s glass after all.

The black hot red shell is ready, I'm going to decorate it so that it has concentric circles of yellow and orange color. I apply four large red blobs of yellow glass and fuse them into the shell. By the way, on the stand there is a yellow stick with a red tip. Don't touch it, it's hot. Very hot.

The circles are made like this: the drops melt into the object. The drop is (in the limit) round; accordingly, the shape of the fused drop tends to a circle. Concentric circles are several drops fused into each other. The second drop applied to the first is orange. And then the third drop, applied to the second, is yellow:

So how is it? And here it is:

Now the legs, tail, head. Is this the head? This will just be the head. Glass must be taken with a reserve.

If it wasn't enough, we'll add more. It remains to tidy up the shape of the head and neck:

Then the eyes. First the whites, then the iris, then the pupil. First white drops, then blue, then black. Each time, bring it into the fire and melt it a little. Eyes are never the same. And they are very rarely not slanted. The size of the eye relative to the body determines the age of the turtle - the more pop-eyed it is, the younger it is. It's very funny, but that's how it is. I have turtles with very small eyes, they all look very adult.

Almost everything. Now it needs to be thoroughly heated and placed in vermiculite. This is an insulating material that prevents the glass from cooling quickly. The glass must cool evenly, that is, the top layer and small external parts should not cool faster than the insides, otherwise the glass will break. The turtle will cool there for a few hours and I can take it home the next day.

This is how it turned out.

By the way, I don’t know what glitters on her paw. I'm still just a beginner in this business and don't understand the very subtle intricacies. It is quite possible that there was some special impurity in the glass, and this effect was obtained. I would make a good detective. I usually focus on color rather than composition. This turtle has a belly button on its belly, where you can insert a magnet (if it fits, I always confuse the diameters of magnets and mandrels) and then it will be a refrigerator magnet. It can withstand the weight of several leaves, that is, it is not supported by snot, the turtle is not very heavy. I give these magnets to all my friends, and at home I decorate flower pots with animals.

December 23, 2014, 06:58

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...

Christmas tree decoration factories self made operate in Sokolniki, Karachev, Bryansk region, Krasnoyarsk, village Selizharovo, 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 of 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 the 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 business 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 the 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 students junior classes to school graduates and college students - they 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 it up and pulled it:

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 practically 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 decorations from glass.

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 the required temperature, and then a ball or shaped 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 previously prepared samples.

Checking with Chinese calendar, the company annually produces toys depicting the symbol of the coming year.

Besides interesting work, many are kept at Yolochka by a 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. Looking through similar Christmas tree decorations in a cardboard box, 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!

Agree, the most pleasant thing about preparing for the New Year is not the table or even the gifts.
The feeling of celebration overtakes us exactly at the moment when we dress up the main symbol New Year's Eve- Christmas tree.

We take out a green beauty from the closet or buy a live spruce, place it at the head of the room, decorate it with sparkling balls, wrap it in tinsel or light a multi-colored garland. From this moment the countdown begins - there are literally a few days left until the New Year.

While everyone is just getting ready to start the New Year's bustle, there is time to buy gifts and decide where and with whom to spend this very night. And it’s too early to get the tree out. But we know how quickly time flies, right?

Travel to winter Nizhny It wouldn't be truly winter without an excursion to fairyland which I am going to tell you about now.

I was able to see with my own eyes how one of the main components is made New Year's holiday- a Christmas tree toy, and even feel a little like an artist.


I have already been to a similar production, only not for Christmas decorations, but for ceramics, and I can well imagine how the birth of such artistic works as vases, plates, jugs, cups, souvenir figurines, etc. occurs. For many years I studied at a school with an artistic focus (Gzhel) and even have a certificate (consider it a second profession after a journalist) as a painter. Although that’s what kind of artist I am. Once, I wrote a long article about the production of Gzhel ceramics for a magazine near Moscow.

But I have never seen how glass is made, much less such a fragile thing as a Christmas tree toy! Everyone has heard about Gus-Khrustalny, Christmas tree decorations are made in Khimki, Klin, Pavlovsky Posad. The Nizhny Novgorod Christmas tree toy factory "Ariel" is one of such productions.

1. The factory greets you with these romantic drawings on the concrete fence.

2. You can’t tell it’s a factory! The factory house is a museum; production begins where the “brick” is.

3.

4. We went inside and everyone took their breath away at once. Magic! Adults, like children, rushed to look at toys and take pictures in New Year's interiors.

5. Christmas tree on chicken legs

6.

7.

8.

9.

Toy Museum. From the past to the present.

The Toy Museum is a real journey back to childhood. Soviet plastic Christmas trees, metallic retro toys, paper decorations and snow made of cotton wool.

10. The museum’s exposition consists of more than a thousand exhibits that were collected over 20 years. However, the fishery itself originated on Nizhny Novgorod soil in 1936. The Ariel factory, in a way, continues the traditions of the Gorky industrial cooperative artel "Children's Toy".

11.

12.

13. Toys with clothespins, everyone had them! I still have a lot of old balls and figurines in my bins - on New Year We don’t hang them on the Christmas tree anymore, it’s a shame to break them. At home the cat is now just soulless plastic on a green beauty :(

14. Exactly the same houses! It’s true what they say: in the USSR, everything was the same for everyone.

15. While everyone was looking at the balls, I hurried to buy souvenirs. Toys here cost on average 200-300 rubles apiece, and there are some for a thousand. It’s expensive for some, but personally I didn’t mind spending money for such beauty.

16. A lot of rural motifs. Russian village, folk tales.

17.

18. Winter and the same summer landscapes. Very sincere.

19. There is also a collection of such folk crafts as Gzhel.

The Nizhny Novgorod Christmas tree decoration factory is the only one in Russia whose products are exported. To Europe, America, Canada and many other countries. What and in what technique they don’t draw! And European landscapes and Russian villages, airplanes (ordered from Sukhoi) and oil rigs (Lukoil), even Barack Obama was painted! They just haven’t portrayed Putin in a politically correct way yet, they say.

20. You can order any themed batch of toys at the factory. For the New Year, so many corporate and individual orders that glassblowers and artists work 12 hours a day!
Government orders are also coming. This is a patriotic collection of "city of Russia".

21. And this is an order from the Moscow metro. Do you recognize the stations?

22. Paveletskaya!

Glass blowers. This is where the toy takes shape.

23. The time has come to tell how such beauty is born. First, a long glass tube is heated over a gas burner and divided into pieces. Then these parts continue to be heated over the fire, after which the master “inflates” the ball from one end of the tube.

24. These are the “chupa-chups” you get. Ready-made lollipops

25. But first, the master carefully, under fire, will remove one of the sticks.

26. And here you can see the mold in which the pimply balls are made.

27. Like this

Workshop. Here they paint the New Year.

A toy is not a toy unless it is painted by an artist. It's time to look into the workshop where future jewelry is painted with watercolors, acrylics and glitter.

28. The factory occupies the building of a former bus depot. Apparently this was once a classroom, do you see the posters on the walls?

Today it is a workshop where painters work. Only women, men do not have enough perseverance and patience.
The only representative of the stronger sex at Ariel is Arkady Tersinskikh, director of the factory.

29. Bloggers quickly filled the room, trying to grab a good shot. Poor artists!

30. Each girl draws her own story. Here is a Russian lady

31. And here is a matryoshka doll. I know firsthand how difficult it is to outline a finished product with a black outline. If only your hand didn’t tremble!

32. Work environment. Brushes, paints, palettes, sponges and jars of water

33.

34. They paint with watercolors and acrylic paints; there are also special contour paints that create relief on the product.

35. Kefir also serves art even after death

36. Religious motives. Christmas night

37. Officers

38. In full dress and in sparkles!

39.

40. The gingerbread series at the factory has been in existence for several years. Really like! I bought two toys from this collection as gifts for my family.

41. Lambs get a fur coat

42. We remind you that next year is the year of the sheep/goat (meaning 2015). My year, by the way (:

43.

44. Vases and candlesticks are also painted here.

Chief by drawing

It was a craft, but who is the master? Chief artist! It is he who comes up with every story that will be depicted on the toy this year. Every order, every picture for “Ariel” is drawn by Natalya Repina.

45.

46. ​​Creative chaos and fresh work.

47. In the artist’s office - examples of collections different years. There in the background - " a little prince", in the foreground are Russian and foreign landscapes.
On the first ball is the Chkalov Stairs, Nizhny Novgorod.

48. Natalya admitted that her favorite subjects are landscapes of the Russian village.

49.

50.

51. The king is inspired by children's fairy tales. This is new this season.

52. And this unusual flower collection stands out against the background of other toys. A completely different technique is applying several layers of paint.

Do you want to be an artist? Come on.

53. If you suddenly thought: “I could do this too, if I wanted to!” - this is easy to check. You can be an artist and paint a souvenir for yourself. Acrylic paints, brushes and go!

54. Some drew from pictures, some grumbled that they couldn’t draw, some produced real masterpieces. Our guide drew this.

Making a glass Christmas tree decoration is a delicate matter. Factory production of glass Christmas tree decorations in Russia began in 1848, when Prince Menshikov opened the Alexandrovo glass factory on his estate (now located in the city of Vysokovsk, Klin region). Initially, it was used to produce dishes, pharmaceutical bottles, and lamps. When the fashion of decorating the Christmas tree with toys came from Europe to Russia, the plant began producing glass beads.

5 interesting facts about Russian Christmas tree decorations

Traditional Russian Christmas tree decoration - long glass beads (garlands)

Many people mistakenly believe that the traditional Christmas tree decoration in Russia is a ball. But the history of glass Christmas tree decorations in Rus' begins with beads.

Peasants, having mastered the craft at the Menshikov factory, often made buttons, earrings and beads at home using handicraft methods. Such things were called “trifling.”

Previously, Christmas tree decorations were made at home on a kerosene burner.

A document was found in the city archives of Klin stating that in 1887, master Vekshin Yakov Ivanovich, while working at the glass factory of Prince Menshikov, learned the art of blowing beads. Then he left the factory and organized his own business.

Handicraft production was usually carried out in huts. To do this, each craftsman kept a burner mug with a diameter of 15 cm in his house. Tow was stuffed inside such a mug, making a wick out of it. Kerosene was poured down. Then they set fire to the tow. The fire was fanned by large bellows.

Craftsmen had to buy glass tubes for home production from factories. The glass from which artisans blew jewelry was made from quartz sand. The melting point of such a tube was about 1710°C. Using a homemade kerosene burner it was impossible to achieve high temperature. Therefore, the craftsmen were unable to produce elegant toys and beads.

The first beads looked like stones

Christmas tree garlands, which are made at a modern enterprise, weigh almost nothing. The glass is so thin that it can crack if you squeeze the Christmas tree beads in your fist.

In the old days, beads turned out to be heavy, with thick walls and uneven edges, which was due to the refractoriness of glass at home. The garlands looked more like stones. And they rattled like pebbles thrown to the ground.

Therefore, the craft of making beads was called pebble. It was almost impossible to break or scratch such products.

There is no educational institution in Russia where they teach to become master glassblowers

Most of the craftsmen who work at the plant are hereditary glassblowers. They received experience and skills from their fathers and mothers. This tradition began in the 19th century and continues to this day.

Anyone wishing to learn to become a glassblower must undergo training at the factory. The internship lasts six months, after which new master starts making toys.

The most big toy, which is blown by a master at the Yolochka factory, reaches a diameter of 11.5 cm, the smallest is 3 cm

Toys are produced in such a size that they look good on Christmas trees in a typical apartment. Balls that are too large are inconvenient to hang on a Christmas tree, so the factory does not produce them.

How to make a Christmas tree toy today

Today, the plant produces on average up to a million toys a year, which are distributed throughout Russia and neighboring countries. “Yolochka” belongs to the folk craft enterprises, since many technologies of traditional handicraft of the 19th century are still preserved here.

The process of making a modern Christmas tree decoration can be divided into 5 main stages:

Blowing

Toys are blown from long glass tubes. The master holds the tube by the “antennae” and heats it up, constantly rotating it over the fire of a gas burner. This is necessary so that the glass heats up evenly. The temperature on the flames reaches 1000°C. After the material becomes plastic (this is determined by eye), the master begins to blow into the tube. Depending on the strength of breathing, you get balls or other free-blowing toys (mushrooms, nesting dolls, snowmen, tops).

Shaped toys (huts, foxes, bunnies and others) are more difficult to make. The master also heats up the tube, and then, after waiting for the right moment, puts plastic glass in a metal mold, closes it tightly and blows into the free end of the tube. The glass is evenly distributed over the metal and takes the desired shape. This must be done very quickly, as the glass cools almost instantly.

The production is in complete darkness, the craftsmen work in headphones, as there is constant noise from the gas burners. All manipulations with glass are performed only with the help of fire and human breath.

The most difficult to manufacture are assembly toys (samovar, teapot). In them you need to solder one glass piece to another using fire.

Metallization

At the next stage of production, the toys are given a mirror shine. This process is called metallization. The blanks are placed on a metal frame, and foil is hung on top of it. It's all then sent into a huge barrel-like vacuum unit. Air is pumped out of the installation, after which current is passed through a thin tungsten wire. From this, the foil begins to melt, falls on a special evaporator and quickly turns into aluminum fog. In just 20 seconds, the fog settles on the cold glass and evenly covers it with a film of aluminum. More than 3 thousand toys are metalized per day on one installation.

Mirrors are made in a similar way.

Coloring

The next stage is coloring. The toy is dipped in paint or paint is sprayed through a special device.

Painting and packaging

After painting, the toy falls into the caring hands of the artist. In one day, a person paints an average of 60-80 toys. Acrylic, enamel and other paints are used for work. Artists apply traditional ornaments and patterns. The decorations are then sent to the packaging department.

We would like to thank the chief technologist of the enterprise, Valentina Vasilievna Trynkina, executive director Vladimir Simanovich, tour guides and general director of the exhibition complex “Klinskoe Podvorye” Lyudmila Simanovich for their help in preparing the material.

Photos courtesy of the Children's Goods Industry Communication Center.

What do you need

  • children's white socks;
  • foam balls of various sizes;
  • scissors;
  • white thread;
  • wide red ribbon;
  • thin red ribbon
  • a piece of colored felt;
  • pins;
  • black buttons.

How to do

Put two in a baby's sock foam ball so that there is a large one at the bottom and a smaller one at the top. Drag the sock between the two balls with white thread.

Tie a wide red ribbon on top and cut its edges.

Tie a string over the top segment of the snowman. Turn the remaining part of the sock inside out. Cut a rectangular piece of felt and wrap it around the snowman's head to create a hat. Secure it with pins and fold the brim.

Now tie a thin red ribbon around the top of the snowman's hat. Make a loop from the long ends of the ribbon.

Pin two black buttons to the bottom ball of the snowman. Use small pins with different colored heads to make the snowman's nose and eyes.

2. Salt dough toys

What do you need

  • 1 cup flour;
  • ¹⁄₂ glass of water;
  • ¹⁄₂ glass of salt;
  • baking paper;
  • cookie cutters or paper templates and blade;
  • cocktail straw;
  • stamps or toothpick;
  • baking tray;
  • acrylic paints or gouache;
  • thin brush;
  • rope or thread.

How to do

Mix flour with water and salt and knead the dough. Divide it into several pieces and roll each one out on baking paper. Using cutters or templates and a blade, cut out the desired shapes.

Use a straw to make holes in the corners of the toys. You can stamp the pattern with stamps or a toothpick.

Place the pieces on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 130°C.

Color the finished decorations to your taste. Red and white colors go best with green pine needles.

When the paint is dry, you can make loops.


rainforestislandsferry.com

What do you need

  • sheet of cardboard;
  • a set of pushpins (at least 200 pieces);
  • multi-colored nail polish;
  • foam blanks in the form of eggs;
  • Super glue;
  • earrings from unnecessary earrings or paper clips;
  • ribbon or thread for a loop.

How to do

Place cardboard on the table, stick pushpins into it in rows and cover them with nail polish. Leave to dry overnight.

In the morning you can decorate the eggs using foam. Carefully insert the buttons into the workpiece. It is important that one row slightly covers the other.

Use superglue to glue a wire or paperclip to the top of the toy. Secure it on it decorative tape or thread.

4. Thread stars

What do you need

  • star pattern;
  • sheet of cardboard;
  • pencil;
  • scissors;
  • Super glue;
  • beads;
  • any yarn.

How to do

Attach the template to a piece of cardboard and trace with a pencil. Cut out the star along the outline. Glue a bead to the tip of each ray.

Secure the tip of the yarn with superglue in any convenient place. Wrap the star with yarn. Tie the end of the thread with a loop to hang the toy.

5. Button Christmas trees

What do you need

  • multi-colored buttons;
  • wire;
  • wire cutters;
  • thread.

How to do

Sort the buttons by color. Line up each set according to size. Bend the wire in half. Step back from the bend and cross one end of the wire over the other to form a loop. You can finally attach a thread to it to hang the toy.

Thread on the smallest button. Add buttons one at a time bigger size. Important: push the wire through two button holes each time. For buttons with four holes, work the holes diagonally. Then add several dark buttons of the same small size: this will be the tree trunk.

Twist the wire again and cut off the rest. Tie a thread to the loop.


makeit-loveit.com

What do you need

  • cones;
  • Super glue;
  • a coil of thin rope;
  • colored tape.

How to do

Glue a rope loop to the base of each cone. Tie the required number of bows. Secure them to the pine cones with glue.

7. Gift boxes

What do you need

  • ruler;
  • pencil;
  • sheet of cardboard;
  • scissors;
  • thread or thin rope;
  • wrapping;
  • thin decorative tape.

How to do

Using a ruler and pencil, draw a grid of identical squares on a piece of cardboard. The length of the sides can be any, it all depends on the desired size of the future Christmas tree decoration.

Cut out cardboard squares. Glue them into cubes. Before gluing the last segment, secure a loop inside the cube. Let it dry and then attach the box lid.

Wrap the workpiece in paper and tie a ribbon on top.

8. Rope balls

What do you need

  • Balloons;
  • Bowl;
  • PVA glue;
  • a skein of jute rope;
  • glue gun or superglue;
  • spray paint optional.

How to do

Inflate small balloon. Pour PVA into a bowl and soak the rope in it. Tie the end of the rope around the tail of the ball and randomly wrap the future toy. As an option: you can first wrap the ball and then dip it in a container of glue.

Let the toy dry. Then puncture the balloon and pull it out of the frozen frame of the toy. Don't forget the loop to hang your decoration.

Make several toys of different sizes using this principle. Such rope balls look impressive on a Christmas tree or under the ceiling. Especially if you paint them.


sugarbeecrafts.com

What do you need

  • Super glue;
  • broken light bulbs;
  • a skein of thread or ribbon;
  • gouache or glitter paints.

How to do

Glue loops of thread or ribbon to the light bulbs. Dip the bulbs one at a time into different colored paint. Let the toys dry.

10. Dried oranges

What do you need

  • oranges, lemons or limes;
  • sharp knife;
  • baking tray;
  • baking paper;
  • thick needle;
  • wire or thread.

How to do

Carefully cut the citruses into thin slices. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for two to three hours at 100°C.

Use a needle to make a hole in the future toy. Thread a thread or plastic wire and secure it to create a pendant.