Treasure Chest Thursday: Old World Metal Art Ornaments

A couple of the prettiest Christmas ornaments in my collection are these two brass "Old World Metal Art" 1979 dated ornaments, by Kristin Kjorlaug Inc. (originally Kristin Company).   These must have been among the very first ornaments I bought for myself, for my first Christmas tree in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1979.  The first is a snowflake; the second is called "the little Mary."

I still have the original sleeve one of the ornaments came in, along with the original documents.  Here are some of the images from the pages, which tell a little about the company.

I found some examples of different snowflake designs from later years for sale online.  I don't remember what I paid for these in 1979, but now they seem to sell for about $8.50 each.

"The little Mary" was apparently designed by another artist called Pat Greer.  I was unable to find much information about her.  However, I found a lot of information about Kristin Korlaug herself on her granddaughter's website.  Here is what she wrote:

Kristin Kjorlaug was the artist name of my dear Norwegian grandmother. In 1884 her grandfather brought the name Kjorlaug from Norway to America. Kristin was a Norwegian name that she adored. Not only did she sign her artwork with this name, but she also named her brass art company The Kristin Company in 1972— a company where my grandfather, an engineer, chemically etched her artwork on brass sheets, then clipped and polished them to sell as ornaments. They ran this company together until 1987. 

Based on this information, other hints I found on the granddaughter's Facebook page, and the Edina, Minnesota location of the company, I determined that the original Kristin Kjorlaug was Dorothy Ann Kjorlaug Cummings, 1923-2011.  Her husband was former Honeywell aeronautical engineer Kimball Curtis Cummings Sr., 1921-2020.

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Marine Animal Ornaments

In December 1993, my son Eric's third-grade class was working on a project on marine animals.  I remember Eric doing lots of research on narwhals and hermit crabs.

As it was Christmastime in Lynnwood, Washington (where we lived at the time), I was popping in at Wight's Home and Garden store to see their "Wonderland of Christmas" display of about 35 trees, each decorated with a different theme.  And of course, the ornaments were for sale.  I got many ornaments at Wight's in the years we lived in Lynnwood (1990-1995), as we'd put up a pretty big tree.  I'd typically scout out the trees and come back and get ornaments in the after-Christmas sale.

I must have found these ornaments on some wildlife-themed tree.  I bought them (even though they weren't on sale) just in case Eric and his class needed them for the project.  At the end of it, they were planning a display of their findings, with all the parents invited.  I don't think any of the ornaments were used for that, but for many years after, they hung on our tree.

Above:  The seven ornaments on a tree.  

Below:  Bald eagle - okay, so it's not a marine animal, but it does eat them.

Above and below - whales, I think.  Maybe the one above is a gray whale, and the ones below might be blue whales

Pretty sure these are a salmon (above) and a sea lion (below).

A shark (above) and a manatee (below).

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Seattle Ornaments

I have WAY more Christmas tree ornaments now than I will ever need, given that I don't put up a large tree any more, and also inherited a number of ornaments from my mother.  So I thought I would write about the stories behind a few of the more interesting ones, before passing them on to the offspring.

The ones I'm writing about today are from the offspring's birth state of Washington.  The Seattle area, where the offspring grew up, is well known for the Puget Sound ferries - so of course I have a couple ferry boat ornaments, both made of wood.  This one even has little cars on it:

This one looks more like the Washington State Ferries, with the color scheme used in the time I lived up there (late 1984 to January 2006):

It was a gift from a coworker, Cheryl Robinson, who was a registered nurse who worked a couple mornings or afternoons per week at multiple schools within the Edmonds School District.  Therefore, I'm not sure if she gave this to me during the period I was working at Terrace Park K-8 (Christmas 1997 or 1998) or at Hazelwood Elementary (Christmas 2001, 2002, or 2003).

We also acquired a couple Seattle Seahawks ornaments over the years.  It's nice to see that the logo on the helmet is still used by the team today.

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Mt. St. Helens Ash Glass Ornaments

I have WAY more Christmas tree ornaments now than I will ever need, given that I don't put up a large tree any more, and also inherited a number of ornaments from my mother.  So I thought I would write about the stories behind a few of the more interesting ones, before passing them on to the offspring.

The ones I'm writing about today are from the offspring's birth state of Washington.  When I moved there on November 1, 1984, glass ornaments, made from ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington, were very popular.

Here is the first one, from Evergreen Art and Design in Chehalis.  (My photos don't do the ornaments justice.)  It has about a ten-inch circumference and a three-plus-inch diameter.

I store it in the original wooden box it came in, which was made by D&D Box in Rochester, Washington.

I also still have this descriptive card inside.

It reads:  "Mount St. Helens erupted May 18, 1980 giving mankind another example of the power of Mother Nature. Millions of tons of volcanic ash were thrown into the air, blanketing several states. This ash contained 64.2% silica, the basic ingredient of glass, plus numerous trace elements including alumina, iron, calcium, silver, and gold.

This ornament comes to you from Hank Claycamp's Evergreen Art and Design in Chehalis, Washington. Working just an ashfall away from the volcano, artisans fashion each handblown piece from a unique blend of man's ingenuity and nature's bounty. The glassworks also produces a variety of paperweights, vases, lamps, bells, bowls, honey jars, jewelry, and custom designs."

Unfortunately, although I found listings at auction sites for similar ornaments made as early as 1982 and as late as 1985, neither Evergreen Art and Design nor D&D Box seem to be in business today.

Here is the other ornament, from Glass Eye Studio in Seattle:

As the descriptive card notes, "handblown glass insures individual creation - no two pieces are exactly alike."

Apparently, the Glass Eye Studio has run out of Mt. St. Helens ash and no longer makes the ornaments, but a few can still be found online.

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!

Happy 12th Blogiversary to ME!

Twelve Drummers Drumming, from the 12 Days of Christmas animated light display at the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights, Galveston, Texas, January 3, 2015.

© Amanda Pape - 2021 - e-mail me!