Christmas Ornament Repair

 This is the Christmas craft I have been brainstorming this week. I started out by setting aside any older handmade ornaments from past years and hot gluing and trimming and repairing... or just tossing.  I cleaned out old boxes, faded cheapo ornaments with the paint flaking off.  Working with my Christmas stash is part of my fun.  I love to organize and tidy up.

  A few years ago I purchased a set of these Victorian styled push pin ornaments.  I hadn't put them out for a few years and I was looking forward to using them.  These were a popular craft back in the sixties and seventies.  We had some growing up.  You can still buy some of the vintage kits and make your own, but in the past couple of years they seem to be more popular and there are new kits you can get (a bit pricey). Or you can purchase vintage ones.  You can go back to the roots and make your own out of costume jewelry and corsage pins.

^This^ is one that I purchased online.  It looks great on my tree.

There is a really wide range of styles and color schemes to be had.  Some are way too prickly for my taste.  They look like angry porcupines.

There are some that look too gaudy... Although I bet they look nice on a tree.

A couple of winters ago I was at lunch with a friend and we were discussing vintage ornaments.  I described the push pin ornaments.  "Oh I have some of those that a friend gave me.  I'll go get them...."

They were in pretty good shape but my gold ornaments are more of a champagne, and these were really gold yellow.  And there was a lot of satin showing.  Not really my taste.  I made some changes, replacing yellow ricrac hangers with ribbon.  But still...  I didn't love them.

This year as I was going through my decorations I thought "I need to make a decision about those."  Either throw them out or use them.  These were obviously hand made with costume jewelry and things that were on hand and I just couldn't bring myself to toss someone's creative effort.  Not when I knew they could be nice with a little work.  I dug out some old pins and sequins and stuff.  Maybe some ribbon would help.  Or upholstery trim.

I got up on Etsy and ordered an assortment of gimp trim.  Amazon had some good champagne colored pearl headed pins.  I dug around in my Christmas drawer for gold string and other whatnots.  I watched a YouTube video for some constructions tips.

This one didn't need a whole lot of help.  I had a vision.  It just needed to be covered with some texture and color.

That's better.  I may still swap the pearl pins for regular pins which will disappear.

It looks much nicer.  It isn't easy to get the gimp straight all the way around, but there is a whole lot less yellow and a lot more subtle glimmer.  And you don't really notice its flaws when it is on the tree.

Now this one....  this little cherry red one.  I'm sorry but that white ricrac just has to go!

I pulled all of the pins out.  I will break these down and save the components.  A magnetic tray is a huge help, as is the black Velor work surface.

I wasn't as inspired by this one but after searching through internet photos I got some ideas for a starting point.  I went through my sewing supplies for some green headed pins.

It needed the fuzzies singed off with a lighter and I replaced the red beads with some clear ones I had.  I had to improvise on the hanger because I need to get some cap beads,

It looks so different now.  I like it.  It no longer resembles a fake cherry.

Now that I've picked up a few supplies, I need to figure out some improvements for the other two.  Then I may make some more from scratch.  You can buy satin covered foam balls in several sizes and a wide palette of more subtle colors.

I need to get some cap beads to finish off the tops and bottoms.

Some teardrop shaped pearls...

And I can add to my collection...

My tree this year ended up having sort of a raspberry palette.  Not really red.  Not really gold.  I have pink and white and swirls.  This is only the second time I can think of that I have used more than one color of glass balls (or more than two sizes) at a time.

Last year I found a set of "tonal red" ball ornaments which had some shades of pink and then I found this photo and I loved the many sizes and colors and the way the ornaments were hung so they created brushstrokes of color with no set pattern.

  I stuck with the colors that I already had, but I dug through my bins of random ornaments and brought out anything that would coordinate.  And all I used was glass balls and a couple of bead garlands.

So this is what it looks like this year.  Every year it is quite different, and each year I think it is the best I've ever done.  But that is just because it reflects my current inspiration.  Next year it will be different.