Glass Christmas-tree toys: production of Russia

The first associations that arise when a person is mentioned in the New Year are related to the tree and the fragile glass ornaments on it. These are the most pleasant memories from childhood.

Unfortunately, modern Christmas toys, mostly of Chinese origin, made of plastic or polystyrene, have ceased to be brittle. They no longer cause that trembling feeling when you tremble hands hang an ornament on the tree, trying not to break it. But thanks to the work of domestic glass blowing plants, the popularity of glass toys in Russia is beginning to revive, and their products are becoming more beautiful and interesting.

The history of the appearance of Christmas decorations from glass

Homeland of glass Christmas toys is Germany. It was here in the XIX century in the city of Lausha was made the world's first ball in the shape of an apple. The choice was not accidental. For Thuringia, the year 1848 turned out to be poorly harvested, and quite few apples were collected. Therefore, local glassblowers decided to make glass fruits, and then successfully sold them at the fair. From that time, serial production of toys was organized to decorate them with fir trees and houses on the eve of the celebrations of Christmas and New Year.

In the same year 1848 in Russia, the first glass blowing plant was opened, on which serfs made utensils, bottles and other products. Its location is the Moscow region, the city of Klin. During the war, the plant was almost completely destroyed, but by the early 1950s the local population had reached the prewar level of production.

Glass Christmas-tree toys continue to be produced today at the Yelochka factory, but in the neighboring village of Vysokovsk. Not far from the location of the former factory is the only museum in Russia - Klinskoe Podvorie.

Production technology

Most of the factories that work in Russia today, toys are made by hand. This process is quite laborious.

The first stage of production begins in the glass-blowing shop. The starting material for making toys is glass in the form of thin tubes about 50 centimeters in length. Then it warms up to a temperature of 1000 degrees and is blown out with the help of a light worker. The result is a transparent glass toy, which still needs to cool before going to the next stage of production. From one such tube comes 20 round balls or 5-10 icicles or tops on a Christmas tree. The maximum size of a ball that can be blown out is 15 centimeters in diameter.

The second stage is silvering. It consists in injecting into each ball a special solution consisting of silver oxide, ammonia and distilled water. Then the toy is lowered into hot water and shaken, while silver settles on the walls, and the figure ceases to be transparent. Next, the ball is dyed in one color and dried.

At the third stage, glass Christmas toys are painted by hand. After the drawing is done, the figure is covered with a special transparent glue and sprinkled with golden crumb.

The fourth stage is to cut the long "neck" of the ball with a diamond circle, fasten the buckle and pack toys. It is in this form that she enters the stores, and then to our homes.

Production of glass Christmas-tree toys in Russia: famous factories

To date, there are several domestic factories for the manufacture of Christmas decorations. They produce a variety of glass Christmas toys. Russia is rapidly increasing its output, providing itself and neighboring countries with fragile products.

The oldest enterprise for the production of Christmas tree decorations is in the city of Vysokovsk in the Moscow region. Its modern name is JSC "Yelochka".

The industrial enterprise with a 70-year history is located in Pavlovo-Posadsky district (Danilovo village). All glass Christmas toys are made and painted by hand. They can be called truly unique, since the figure of each figure is repeated no more than 500 times.

Another factory for the production of Christmas tree decorations, "Ariel", is located in Nizhny Novgorod. This modern enterprise continues the work of the famous in the USSR Gorky Commercial Artel "Children's Toy", founded in 1936. All products are made according to European quality standards, therefore they are known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

Glass Christmas toys: price per set

Glass toys have never been cheap. Manual labor requires adequate payment, but you can get a product with a unique pattern and hand-painted. For how much you can buy a set of glass Christmas-tree toys?

So, for example, a package of 6 balls and apex costs about 700 rubles. But the New Year's sets, consisting of 32 items, will cost 3500 rubles. On sale there are also large balls with a diameter of up to 10 centimeters. The price of one such toy will cost 250-300 rubles.

Christmas decorations made of glass come from childhood. They will never be replaced by toys made of plastic or other artificial materials.