How It's Made: Glass Christmas Ornaments

It's hard to beat the glitter and glow of glass Christmas ornaments. For many people, the Christmas tree just wouldn't be the same without them. They were invented in the 19th century by a German glassmaker who decided to improvise because he couldn't afford to decorate his tree with the usual nuts and candy. They're Christmas eye candy. Today's glass ornaments are a visual treat. To make some of the ornaments, they start with a sketch and make a plaster model of it. They use it to create a two-part metal mold. They take a glass cylinder and fire its wider end so it softens. The glassmaker blows into the pipe end to stretch the supple glass into the basic shape of a bauble ornament. Other glass tubes are more bulbous at the center, and that's the section that's fired as the glassmaker blows it into a more elongated bubble. He places that bubble in the mold and blows extra hard. The glass expands into its crevices and takes its shape, a snowman. He burns off one of the blowpipe ends and then aims the torch at the snowman's nose to pull it out. A quick cool down could shatter this ornament, so he gradually lowers its temperature with a less intense flame. Blowing and molding glass figurines is quick work. The glassmaker has just a few seconds to complete the job before the glass becomes too cool and stiff to shape. The ornaments now head down the line to get some shine. This will be an inside job. The glassmaker pours silvering solution into the baubles through the stem. She then dips the bauble in warm water. This activates the silvering chemicals and shaking the ornament accelerates this process. She swirls the silvering liquid around to completely coat the inside of the ornament. A final dip gives this bauble a mirror finish from the inside out. She empties the silvering solution into another tank for recycling. They also use this technique on the figurines, like the snowman. A quick shake gives this guy an inner beauty. Next, they submerge the glass ornament in lacquer to give it some color. The mirror finish inside shines through the lacquer. Now the snowman ornament gets an artist's touch. She airbrushes white lacquer onto the figurine for a frosty finish. It makes the snowman look more like old Frosty. The artist paints some of the details by hand, like the trim on the hat and robe of the Santa ornament. This gives it more visual depth. Once the paint dries, she brushes glue onto sections where she wants glitter dust to stick. The glue dries quickly, so the artist applies more. When it comes to Christmas sparkle, you just can't get enough. Next, she makes an incision in the stem and snaps it off. A metal cap fits on the ornament's stub. Time to pack up these fragile beauties very carefully. They put them in boxes that cradle each one individually to ensure they arrive safely. Now these glass ornaments are ready to go out on a limb to add beauty to the holidays.