Christian Werner Ring Animals
We were delighted to find a wonderful video from CNN on the work of Christian Werner. With his workshop in Seiffen, the Erzgebirge, Germany, Christian Werner is one of only eight master craftsmen in Reifendrehen - or ring-turning. His work is truly exquisite. Click on the image below for a lovely CNN video highlighting his workshop. 
We are proud to now carry his work, and know you will enjoy his herds of cattle
- Herd of Christian Werner cattle with their shepherd and hand-shaved trees - from Germany and sheep
Inge-Glas® of Germany, the oldest Christmas ornament company in the world and Green
Inge-Glas® is not only the oldest Christmas ornament company in the world (since 1596), but is so very proud to produce environmentally sound mouth-blown, hand-painted Heirlooms to Cherish ornaments in their German workshops. Today, with over 100 artisans they keep the environment of a small family operated business. As they note on their website: "Inge-Glas® has successfully kept the spirit of the glass cottage industry alive." They are world renowned as the best-of-the-best glass ornament companies. Each Inge-Glas® German Heirloom ornament is topped with their exclusive 5-Point Star Crown™ ornament cap, a symbol of their superior product.
As Inge-Glas® reports:
"Inge-Glas® of Germany is proud to inform you that our factory uses only a pure, high grade German glass and lead free paints, lacquers and glitters.
We are 100% lead-free ornament manufacturer and you have our assurance when you buy Inge-Glas®, you are buying an environmentally safe heirloom keepsake for you and your children.
Unlike other ornament suppliers, Inge-Glas® owns its own factory in Germany. We control all materials used in the manufacturing, packaging and shipping of our heirloom quality ornaments.
Inge-Glas® manages all aspects of quality within our work environment with regard to our product and human life by creating an environmentally safe workplace.
Inge-Glas® remains steadfast in maintaining our duty to the ecological future of our planet and preserving our centuries-old tradition of the art of glassblowing."
The Shepherd - the No. #1 "Essential" Santon for a Provençal Creche
In March 2012 we published Essential Santons for a Provencal Creche - a list of the top 20 Santons included in the creche by the Provençal people. The Shepherd - Le Berger (French) - Lou Pastre (Provençal) was the number one Santon included. It was to the Shepherd that the Angel came to announce the birth of Jesus. The Shepherd then played the pivotal role of summoning all the Provençal villagers to the manger. The importance of the Shepherd is, without a doubt, symbolized by the fact that we find so many different types in the Marcel Carbonel Santons' creche. There exist more different Santons' Shepherds than any other figure. Three of Carbonel's Shepherds: the Old Shepherd, the Young Shepherd, and the Man with a Sheep, are available in all four sizes. Both the Old and Young Shepherds wear long homespun cloaks and black hats. See them here in Size #2:
To find them in the the shop, click on the links that follow.
For the Old Shepherd: Size Puce, Size #1, Size #2, and Size #3.
For the Young Shepherd: Size Puce, Size #1, Size #2, and Size #3.
And, for the Man with a Sheep: Size Puce, Size #1, Size #2, Size #3.
Two Carbonel Shepherds (more precisely, one is a Shepherdess) are available in two different sizes: The Kneeling Shepherd and the Shepherdess with a Cape. Both bring the baby Jesus a lamb. Find them pictured below in Size #2. Click here to see The Kneeling Shepherd in the shop: Size #2 and Size #3; and Size #2 and Size #3 the Shepherdess with Cape.
Carbonel's Size #3, offers two additional figures: The Shepherd from Arles and the Shepherdess with a Lamb. Both are special, although we admit to a particular affinity for the Shepherd from Arles. 
Size Puce also offers the Shepherdess with a Lamb.
The final Shepherd in the Carbonel Collection is the Sleeping Shepherd. He misses the Angel's call to the manger, as he is fast asleep. He is, indeed, a unique character. It feels best to wait and feature him in a separate, future blog post.
Icicles, Pine cones - the first Figural German Glass Ornaments before the creation of moulds
In 1597 Christoph Mueller and Hans Greiner established the first German glassworks in the town of Lauscha (60 miles north of Nurnberg), in the German state of Thuringia. It is the Mueller family that has worked in the glass industry from that time and subsequently become Inge-Glas of Germany.
A descendant of Greiner created the first glass Christmas ornaments in 1847. These original Christmas ornaments came in the shape of balls (kugels) and then in the form of the first figurals. Interestingly, the Christmas balls were a then "modern" substitute for the apples of the paradise tree (a precursor to the Christmas tree).
The first figurals were most likely icicles and pine cones, as it was possible to make them before the creation of ornament moulds. The first balls, kugels, were blown free form. Icicles were also possible to blow from that free form glass, in an elongated form. Click on the ornament image to find it on www.mygrowingtraditions.com
Louis Greiner-Sholotfeger discovered that a glass bubble could be blown against a wooden springerle mould shaped like a Pine cone, the classic symbol of winter beauty. The mould shaped the hot almost molten glass into the pine cone ornament. Pine Cones were a natural as they mimicked the natural items used to adorn Christmas trees before the invention of the glass ornament. This discovery lead to producing other shapes in moulds. Click on the ornament image to find it on www.mygrowingtraditions.com
Ornament moulds were soon to follow and used for Christmas balls and an abundance of different Christmas figural ornaments.
Santons Creche Nativity Sets
We offer starter sets for Marcel Carbonel Santons (from Provence, France) nativity figures, themselves (Mary, Joseph, and Jesus). Click here to see them in Size #2 (Elite) and here to see the Size #3 (Grande). They are a wonderful way to get started and to save some money.
In addition we have created unique - each one is a one of a kind - sets that include a stable and other accessories for the Size #2 (Elite) Santons size. Enjoy the European tradition. Begin with a stable and the nativity figures. Over the years, add additional figures, trees, and miniature accessories.
#1 - Charming Creche Set. This set includes Carbonel Santons with a Carbonel Ruin Stable with trees and eight No. 2 Santons figures: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, an Angel, three Kings, and a sheep. The accessories are from Bavaria and the Erzgebirge, Germany: a hand-shaved tree, amphora, wooden ladder, sieve, ceramic pot, basket, and delicate bow saw. All hand-made.
- Marcel Carbonel Creche Set - with Carbonel Stable and German Accessories
#2 -Wonderful Carbonel Nativity Set with German Accessories. This set includes a Carbonel No. 2 (the 2-3/4" size) Courtyard Stable, Carbonel figures (Mary, Joseph, Jesus, three Kings, an Angel and a sheep) all from France. PLUS a sampling of accessories: three trees, small wooden bucket, basket, string of 3 ears of corn, and a pitch fork--all from Germany (the Erzgebirge and Bavaria).
- Marcel Carbonel Nativity Set with Carbonel Stable and German Accessories
#3 - A delightful Creche set combining French Santons with a hand-made Bavarian stable. This set includes the stable, figures, and a sample of accessories for the scene. French Santons from Marcel Carbonel - No. 2 (the 2-3/4" size): Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Angel, and sheep. An exquisite Bavarian stable in the tradition of the European Alps. PLUS: three trees, sieve, ceramic pot, wooden rake, bench, tin pan, and string of 5 ears of corn (all from Germany: the Erzgebirge and Bavaria).
- Marcel Carbonel Nativity/Creche Set with German Stable - Size #2 (Elite)
#4 - An exquisite creche starter set. Combine French Santons figures with a German stable and accessories. This set includes: eight Size 2 (the 2-3/4" size) Santons from Marcel Carbonel: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, three Kings, Angel, and a sheep, all from France. A detailed hand-made stable reminiscent of the European Alps from Bavaria. PLUS: three trees (from the Erzgebirge), five ears of strung corn, a ceramic pot, sieve, bundle of wood, saw, pitch fork, and pail (All from Germany).
- Marcel Carbonel Santons Nativity/Creche Set with Bavarian Stable - Size #2 (Elite)
Hand-shaved and carved trees, Spanbaum, from Germany
- German Spanbaum - Hand-shaved tree.
We have traditionally carried Spanbaum, these delightful trees from Germany, in seven sizes (from 2" to 8"). The Christmas craftsmen of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) have made these hand-shaved trees for years and years. They begin with a basswood blank and using a chisel tease out each curled branch. It is a craft that is truly an art form.
- Creating a hand-shaved tree - Spanbaum
On the request of customers, this year we have added to our offerings four new sizes: 10", 12", 14", and 16" - which you can find on our website by clicking here, or on the photo below.
- Spanbaum - Hand-Shaved Trees from the Erzgebirge
History of Inge-Glas of Germany
The Inge-Glas Company has it's origins in the glass-blowing center of Lauscha, Germany, in the state of Thuringia, going back to the late 1500s. The company explains the Müller-Blech family's journey and it is a journey distinctly steeped in history:
- Renown originally for their bird ornaments - the number one figural ornament collected,
- Inge-Glas built a strong Christmas ornament business starting in the 1860s, but this was interrupted in 1951 with the Soviet occupation of Lauscha;
- they managed to move to Neustadt in then Western Germany during the Soviet period (Neustadt being just beyond the Soviet Eastern Germany border), and even maintained (a delicate situation), where possible, contact with family and glass-blowers in the East;
- they actively built an extensive collection of antique ornament moulds;
- charmingly, they strengthened that important collection with the marriage in the 1990s of 14th generation descendant Klaus Müller-Blech to Birgit Eichhorn-Jeremias-Sohn, also from a glassblowing family in Neustadt - resulting in a "marriage" of not only two glass-blowing artisans, but of their independent glass-blowing operations and antique moulds - presently some 6,000 strong;
- and, Inge-Glas has continued to work hard to keep their business strong by creating new moulds that appeal to today's customers and even more importantly to rejoice in the craftsmanship in Germany - where their ornaments are made to this day.
"Inge-Glas® has an impressive history, extending back to the late 1500s in the village of Lauscha, Germany where mouth glassblowing was a cottage industry. Every family had their own specialty and the Müller family was renown for their bird ornaments. Beginning in the 1860s the Müller family specifically customized their craft for creating Christmas ornaments. In 1951 the Russian occupation of Lauscha led 13th generation descendent Heinz Müller-Blech to flee to Neustadt, when in 1953 he and his wife Inge (from whom Inge-Glas® is named) reestablished what is now the modern day Inge-Glas® workshops. Heinz managed to smuggle several glassblowing moulds and after settling down in Neustadt he began to actively search for antique ornament moulds. His family in East Germany would send packages to him containing only halves of the moulds at a time so authorities would not confiscate them.
In the 1960s, Klaus Müller-Blech, 14th generation descendent, spent countless hours in the glass workshops of his parents to learn the profession. Klaus traveled to the U.S. in 1992 to attend the Golden Glow of Christmas Past Convention and to search for antique ornaments. Here he met his future wife, Birgit Eichhorn-Jeremias-Sohn, also from a family of glassblowers in Neustadt, Germany. The two lived in the same village in Germany and had never met until the U.S. convention! When the couple married their families combined their glassblowing operations and antique mould collections. The Müller-Blech family is now reintroducing ornaments made from some of the 6,000 antique moulds their families passed down through the generations. Not all moulds are Christmas oriented. A large portion of the line has year-round appeal for collectors."
