Philosophy
It is from Germany that we today get many of our customs, songs, images of Santa, pine trees and European hand blow glass ornaments.
How these traditions traveled to England is interesting. Queen Victoria often visited relatives in Germany in the town of Coburg and while there she fell in love with a young Prince Albert. After they got married they returned to England to raise their family.
The tree that Prince Albert provided his family was admired by all in England. This tree was decorated in the finest of hand blown glass ornaments. Since everyone liked the Queen they copied her Christmas customs including the Christmas tree and ornaments.
A. F.W. Woolworth brought the glass ornament tradition to the United States in 1890. From 1870's to 1930's, Germans made the finest molds for making ornaments with nearly 5,000 different molds at the time. At the turn of the century there were over one hundred small cottage glass blowing workshops in Europe. Today only two respected German factory teams are capable of producing ornaments to the precise specifications of the Christopher Radko collection.
During the hayday of turn of the century ornament making, almost all ornaments were made in Lauscha, a small town nested in the Thuringian mountains. After the war, however, glass ornament production declined. Many of the craftsmen left for West Germany. Quantity rather than quality, was the Communist management philosophy. Some old molds fell into disrepair and many others were left to collect dust or were lost.
In the 1960's it was fashionable to have an Aluminum tree and all the same shape and color ornaments. Many threw away the old ornaments from Germany.
It was in the 1980's that Christopher Radko brought back the old art of making the glass ornaments for all to enjoy.
- Alice And Beliefing
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- The Symbolic Conifer
King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson. The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the...
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- Cheery Chemist's Christmas
"A Chemical Christmas Tree, 40 Years Of Cheery Christmases" by Bethany Halford December 21st, 2009 Chemical & Engineering News To appreciate their Christmas tree up close, the folks at the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Russell Research...
- Which Christmas Tree Is "greener"--ask Lassie
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Philosophy
Ornaments
It is from Germany that we today get many of our customs, songs, images of Santa, pine trees and European hand blow glass ornaments.
How these traditions traveled to England is interesting. Queen Victoria often visited relatives in Germany in the town of Coburg and while there she fell in love with a young Prince Albert. After they got married they returned to England to raise their family.
The tree that Prince Albert provided his family was admired by all in England. This tree was decorated in the finest of hand blown glass ornaments. Since everyone liked the Queen they copied her Christmas customs including the Christmas tree and ornaments.
A. F.W. Woolworth brought the glass ornament tradition to the United States in 1890. From 1870's to 1930's, Germans made the finest molds for making ornaments with nearly 5,000 different molds at the time. At the turn of the century there were over one hundred small cottage glass blowing workshops in Europe. Today only two respected German factory teams are capable of producing ornaments to the precise specifications of the Christopher Radko collection.
During the hayday of turn of the century ornament making, almost all ornaments were made in Lauscha, a small town nested in the Thuringian mountains. After the war, however, glass ornament production declined. Many of the craftsmen left for West Germany. Quantity rather than quality, was the Communist management philosophy. Some old molds fell into disrepair and many others were left to collect dust or were lost.
In the 1960's it was fashionable to have an Aluminum tree and all the same shape and color ornaments. Many threw away the old ornaments from Germany.
It was in the 1980's that Christopher Radko brought back the old art of making the glass ornaments for all to enjoy.
- Alice And Beliefing
I'm teaching Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in my first year seminar this semester and we were having an interesting conversation Friday that led to a question I'm not sure I have a good answer for. In Through the Looking Glass,...
- The Symbolic Conifer
King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson. The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the...
- "smalt"...an Art Phenomena
Ground glass used in paint pigments?--yep. Renaissance artists used ground cobalt containing glass to add vibrancy to their paintings. Smalt is "...a ground blue potassium glass containing cobalt used among the 15th and the 18th centuries. In Europe...
- Cheery Chemist's Christmas
"A Chemical Christmas Tree, 40 Years Of Cheery Christmases" by Bethany Halford December 21st, 2009 Chemical & Engineering News To appreciate their Christmas tree up close, the folks at the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Russell Research...
- Which Christmas Tree Is "greener"--ask Lassie
Being "green" means more than just being "green". The debate over a real Christmas tree and an artificial Christmas tree continues. "Should I Buy a Fake Fir? Or is it better for the environment to cut down a real Christmas tree?" by Brendan I. Koerner...