New Angels and Children from the Emil Helbig Workshop
The Emil Helbig Workshop in Gruenhainichen (in the Erzgebirge and known as a Toy Makers Village), Germany has been in business since 1933 and is the oldest woodcarving workshop in the Ore Mountains. Their work is unique, simple, and truly elegant.
We have expanded our Emil Helbig offerings to include two sweet little children bringing flowers.
The young boy carries a nosegay and the girl has collected a bunch of flowers in her apron.
Our new Angels are the Angel with a Deer (the Deer admires the star the Angels holds in her hands)
and the Angel with a Baby in a Cradle.
All are classic Emil Helbig wood carvings - delicately carved and finely painted. A joy to add to your collection!
New for 2014 - Wendt and Kühn Grünhainichen Angels
This year, 2014, Wendt and Kühn of Germany has added three new Grünhainichen Angels to their collection.
They are left to right, the Angel with the Small Trumpet, the Angel with Gifts, and the Angel with a Little Tree.
Sitting on their gold pedestal, each is 1-1/2" tall and sit perfectly beside the standing 2-1/2" Grünhainichen Angel Bearing Gifts pictured with two of them here:
Mix and match, create your own display, and enjoy the meticulous art of Wendt and Kühn Grunhainichen Angels - the Angels with the Eleven Dot Wings
treasured by collectors all over the world for nearly 100 years.
Click on the images or links above to find them in our shop.
Enjoy our Wendt and Kühn Pinterest Board.
Wendt and Kühn Grünhainichen Musician Angels - and a Special Place to Store Them
This year we have significantly expanded our offerings of Wendt and Kühn Angels, especially the orchestra musician Angels.
In 1923 Grete Wendt sketched the first three of her angels - each with eleven white dots on their little green wings. They were:
The Angel with a Candle, The Angel with a Violin, and the Angel with a Flute.
We now carry these and a total of 25 of the Musician Angels, and are pleased to also offer the wonderful Grünhainichen Angel Slumber Vault.
The Slumber Vault is a superb place to keep your Wendt and Kuhn Grünhainichen Angels - the musicians and more. The vault stores 36 angels with compartments of various sizes, including a larger compartment to accommodate the grand piano. Grünhainichen Angels - stand alone and ornaments - are pictured along all four sides of the vault.
Click here for our Wendt and Kühn Pinterest Board.
The Wood Workers Shop - An Advent Calendar and our Traditional European Artisans
As we near this holiday season we realize that My Growing Traditions is truly about celebrating with the best of European folk art and Christmas. The artisans and their workshops whose folk art we offer are ones that represent the premier of their genre. All of them have histories that go back decades, some closing in on 100 years, and some beyond. They are artisans that have perfected their art and are recognized world-wide as masters in their field. They have been instrumental in creating and maintaining tradition. We carry Inge-Glas of Germany Christmas ornaments - the oldest Christmas ornament company in the world (since 1596) - and Marcel Carbonel Santons (since 1935) of Marseille, France, the preeminent Santons workshop.
And, we rejoice in the smaller workshops of the Erzgebirge, Germany - from the official German Christmas Village, Seiffen, and the toy-making villages that surround.
These wood-working artisans are so beautifully depicted in Brück und Sohn's (printer Meissen, Germany since 1793) Advent Calendar - The Erzgebirge Woodworker's Shop.
Click here for Brück und Sohn's other Advent Calendars available on My Growing Traditions.
Our fondness for the Woodworker's Shop Advent Calendar led us to want to share with you photos of the workshops of many of the artisans that we carry.
Christian Werner of Seiffen (since 1985) specializes in the exact work of the Woodworker's Shop - he is one of only eight who work in Reifendrehen, or ring-turning.
Bettina Franke has followed in her parents footsteps and carves wonderful Santas and nativity figures. Her workshop like Christian Werner's has flourished since the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe. 
The Emil Helbig Workshop (since 1933) of the toy making village of Grunhainichen in the Erzgebirge is renowned for their exquisite figures - here the wood carver works on a cat.
Classic Angels and many other wonderful wooden figures have been created by the Wendt and Kuhn Workshop in Grunhainichen since 1915.
And last but not least, we want to share with you here this picture of the creation of a wood-chip tree, or Spanbaum, a folk art that dates to the 1930s.
We have been privileged over the years to visit the workshops of each of these artisans - a true joy and an experience that has cemented our desire to make their work available to you.
Advent - History - Calendars and Candles
The tradition of Advent calendars has for many of us become an integral part of Christmas.
Within the Christian Church, Advent is tied to November 30th, the Feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle. Advent begins each year on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew's day and celebrates the anticipation of Christ's birth.
Printed Advent calendars were first produced by Gerhard Lang of Germany in the early 1900s. He was inspired by a calendar drawn by his mother and mounted on cardboard that included 24 pictures - one for each day of December through Christmas Eve. Lang took his mother's calendar one step further, creating the little doors that we know today. Enjoyed by children and adults alike, Advent calendars celebrate the Christmas season, and in a simple and yet magical way help us to focus on the beauty of the wait, a wait that is of course filled with all the wonderful preparations for the holiday.
My Growing Traditions offers a full selection of printed Advent calendars. We add new ones to our selection each year. We have:
Traditional Advent Calendars - where you will find Angels and Elves, Santas, and a 3-D Gingerbread House. Click here to explore our selection
Nativity Advent Calendars - with bible verses revealed underneath their doors. Click here
and wonderful Advent Calendars of European Cities from Brück and Sohn (Printers in Meissen, Germany since 1793). This one, one of many, is of Dresden, home of the first Christmas market in Germany. The first reference to Dresden's Christmas market was in 1434.
The Danish have their own distinct way of capturing the Advent season, with their Advent candles. Everyone enjoys pausing each day to burn down the candle one additional notch as they await the anticipated celebration of Christmas on December 25. We carry three and know you will delight in their use.
You may want to follow our Advent Board on Pinterest for more.
Wendt and Kühn 2014 Eleven Dot Post
Once a year Wendt and Kühn publishes their Eleven Dot Post - the magazine from their Workshops in Grunhainichen, Germany.
We thought you would enjoy reading this special publication celebrating the classic Wendt and Kühn Angels.
Among other things, this years edition has wonderful photographs of the intricate construction of their Angels, both on the cover and inside.
My Growing Traditions carries an extensive selection of Wendt and Kühn figures. Enjoy!
Celebrate Easter with Wendt and Kühn
We now have in stock five charming, colorful, and impeccably painted German Wendt and Kühn figures to add to your Easter traditions. They add a wonderful touch to your Easter table.
The Girl with a Basket filled with Eggs and carrying a bunny
is delightfully paired with the Boy with an Easter Egg
Each is 2-1/2 inches tall.
The Easter Rabbit - Bunny - 3/4" tall - is available separately
and with two other special Wendt and Kühn figures:
a Marguerite Angel with Bunny Rabbit and Carrots
and a member of the Spring Flower Children (Blossom Kinder), The Girl with a Snowdrop and Bunny
All your Wendt and Kuehn purchases from My Growing Traditions will now come in a Wendt and Kuhn gift (presentation box), just to add that special touch to these special German works of art.
Visit our Pinterest board on Wendt and Kuhn angels for our collection of photos All things Wendt and Kuehn.
