Christmas Trees

nattcallai Mayıs 23, 2022

Take Two

The trees have finally been decorated! Above is the small tree in my upstairs studio which has the white lights. As you can see, I cram a lot of ornaments onto my trees! (These are the 1:1 scale trees). And below is a picture of the tree in my downstairs dining room/studio which has the colored lights. I know the lighting in the photo doesn't show the colors very well....

The tree stands in the doorway between the studio and the sitting room... my whole house is tiny so it is right next to the Lovely Old Dollhouse too.

This picture is taken in the afternoon as the light is fading (what little light there was on this stormy icy/rainy day!) But there is enough light to show you a few of my ornaments that I have made over the years.... if you don't think you will be bored....

Many MANY years ago when I set up my first Christmas tree in my first apartment away from home, I made some blown eggs for ornaments and painted them as some of my favorite story book characters.

This one below is the little mouse in Beatrice Potter's "The Taylor of Gloucester".

And this one is the little hedgehog "Mrs. Tiggy Winkle".

Another bunch of ornaments I made in those LONG AGO years is a series of dolls made from wooden clothespins.... the kind you used to use to hang washing out to dry before the days of clothes dryers! Below is a young lady that I think of as from the era of Jane Austen. She is a little bit plain. These dolls have pipe cleaners covered in felt for arms and I never managed to make their hands as this was before the days of Sculpey!

And this one is dressed in a costume from one of the Cantons of Switzerland. I was trying to make costumes from all over the world, and many different eras. She is carrying a basket of flowers that sort of hides part of her dress! (These dolls are about 3.5 inches tall, so they are smaller than dollhouse scale by a good bit).

And this one is a Geisha from Japan.

The fan is painted by me.... made from paper and toothpicks!

And an Eskimo Lady from the Farthest North, all clad in fur.

This young lad is a Lapplander. (Alas, I never made the Reindeer!)

This one is Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

He was a very famous leader of a Native American Tribe from the time of the late nineteenth century when some of the Western part of North America was still Native American Land.
Alas, the feathers that were originally part of his headdress have fallen apart over the years.

This one is a soldier. A Redcoat, no less!

Perhaps he was one of the characters in a Jane Austen novel?

This one is Marie Antoinette in her panniers and her very tall hair!

She is NOT happy... perhaps she knew what was in store for her?

(Or maybe I just had a bad face painting day!)

And this gentleman is her escort..... but he is NOT the Dauphin!

It is hard to see, but he has a lovely felt tricorne hat and a tiny rapier made from a toothpick and brass wire for a handle!

And this one is Queen Elizabeth the first of England. (In case you could not tell!)

The tiny lace on her collars is made by me.... crocheted from sewing thread!

Another type of ornament I have made more recently is what I call my "snowball" ornaments.

They are hollow shells made from paper mache with tiny worlds assembled inside them. The "snowballs" are about four inches in diameter, so the figures inside are tiny.

Below is one that shows a Nativity made from resin figures that I bought... they are each about one inch tall. I painted the sky and added stars of glitter.....

These are still fairly crude and not really "finished" the way I would like.....

This one just shows a winter woodland scene with a moonlight on a frozen pond and an owl made from a button!

I have made some others of these "snowballs" but will show them another time.

Because, by now you MUST be wondering if I am EVER going to get to the minis at all?

Well, rest assured! The Big trees are not the only ones that have been decorated! But first I must tell you that I have not made any of these ornaments myself. (I hope you are not disappointed!) SOME year I will have the time to make by hand the tiny ornaments for the dollhouse tree. But this year I am content to dig through those boxes of dollhouse furniture that have been packed away, because SOMEWHERE is a pile of little ornaments that I bought Oh SO many years ago and hid in the Someday Cupboard house! I had ALMOST forgotten about them! But I found them and they are sweeter than I had ever remembered!

Just LOOK how tiny these glass balls are!

(I have added a tiny brass wire for hanging).

These ornaments came three to a packet... made by Westrim Crafts.

I bought a half dozen or so. Each ornament is different.

And here are a couple of shiny brass ornaments! I love the little reindeer!

And these tiny icicles are made of glass!!

So I carefully unwrapped all these tiny treasures and hung them with tiny brass wires on the tree.

This is what it looks like with all the ornaments added.
(There was also a string of beads with resin figures attached which I wound around the tree.)