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Erzgebirge Wooden Folk Art Füchtner Nutcrackers German Glass Ornaments Inge-Glas Old World Christmas Paper Mache Candy Containers Marolin Ino Schaller Steiff Toys Inge-Glas® Beginning in 1597 in Lauscha, Germany, the Müller family created mouth blown glassware. Two and one-half centuries later, in the 1860s, the Müller-Blech family customized their craft to create mouth blown, hand painted ornaments. For nearly as many years, a second family, the Eichhorns, produced fine quality glassware as well. In 1953, following the World War II Russian occupation of Lauscha, Heinz Müller-Blech fled to Neustadt-by-Coburg, Germany, and there he reestablished the family workshops. Today the company and its Christmas ornament collection, Inge's Christmas Heirlooms™, bear the name of his late wife. In the early 1990s, through marriage, the Müller-Blech and Eichorn families combined their traditions and skills. Inge-Glas® remains a family operated business built by 14 generations of effort, heart, and soul. And to this day, many of the ornaments are handcrafted in molds that date to the 1860s.   The pictures below are from a recent visit to the Inge-Glas® workshop in Neustadt-by-Coburg. The vault of antique molds. Mouth blowing clear glass ornaments. Hand silvering the inside of the ornaments. Hand painting each ornament—with drying time between each color. Hand glittering each ornament—again, with drying time between each color. Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, selecting ornaments with Klaus Müller-Blech, the 14th generation head of the family company. Old World Christmas Between 1984 and 2000, The Merck Family's Old World Christmas distributed Inge-Glas® German-made ornaments in the United States. In 2001, Old World Christmas began producing its ornament designs in China, no longer capped with the Star Crown™, which is owned by Inge-Glas®. Since 2001, Inge-Glas® has exported its glass ornaments under its own name, complete with the exclusive Star Crown™, which continues to identify mouth blown, hand painted ornaments from the 14th generation Inge-Glas® family workshops in Neustadt-by-Coburg, Germany. up to top MAROLIN® by Richard Mahr GmbH The Richard Mahr company was founded in the 1900 by Richard Mahr in his parents' home in the town of Steinach, Thuringia. Like many family craft businesses then and now, the house was both a residence and a workshop. After discontinuing the production of paper mache figures in 1973, the original recipe was lost. By chance, workers found the formula written on a cellar door in 1990. Although the receipe remains a secret, the basic ingredients of the MAROLIN® paper mache include clay, kaolin, plant-glue and paper pulp. Figurines are poured into a form to create a hollow body. Since the molds are made of plaster of Paris, they absorb the moisture of the liquid and a thin layer sticks to the mold's walls. The figurines are hand-painted, demonstrating the decorator's masterly skill and love for details. Each piece takes about one week to create. up to top The Schaller Family Business Carl Schaller ~ Ino Schaller ~ Dieter Schaller ~ Thomas Schaller from 1894 to the present Carl Schaller started a company in his home to produce paper holiday articles, including paper mache, flocked, and pressed cardboard items, in 1894, in Neustadt-by-Coberg, in Bavaria, in west central Germany. His pieces, especially the paper mache candy containers that open from the bottom or middle, were exported to the United States by Woolworth's, which had a warehouse in nearby Sonneberg until 1939. Ino Schaller inherited his father Carl's business, but by the late 1940s, he moved into pressed cardboard figures, and by the 1960s was producing pressed plastic forms as well. Dieter Schaller, Ino's son, also made cardboard toys and figures, such as rabbits, ducks and Santas. Both Ino and Dieter produced plastic plush-covered figures through the '70s and '80s, and the family continues to produce them today. Thomas Schaller, Dieter's teenage son, found his great grandfather's candy container molds in the family's attic in the mid-1980s. Fascinated, he sought the help of his father Dieter to revive the craft of mold casting and pouring paper mache. Today, there are many candy container "reproductions," but nothing matches the integrity, quality and artistry of one made in the original mold, by the same family, in the same house where the original family business began more than 100 years ago. The pictures below are from a recent visit to the Schaller family home and workshop in Neustadt-by-Coburg. The process of making Ino Schaller paper mache and composition figures takes seven days. On the first day, the craftsperson combines liquefied paper, clay, glue, and a few secret mineral ingredients. On the second day, the worker blends the mixture to a smooth consistency and pours it into a two-part plaster mold. In a short while, the plaster draws out some of the water content, leaving a thin paper mache shell. The crafter pours out the excess liquid, and the shell dries through the third day. On day four, the artisan dips the paper mache form in liquid plaster, creating a thin, smooth white skin for the hand painted details and trim. The plaster skin makes this a "composition" figure. On the sixth, seventh and eighth days, the artist applies layers of paint, fine details, and glaze, with drying time between each coat. Finally, the artists apply the finishing touches such as chenille, cellulose shavings, ground glass and mica. Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, selecting candy containers in the Ino Schaller showroom in Neustadt-by-Coburg. Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, and Thomas Schaller, 4th generation head of the family company.   up to top Steiff Toys Margarete Steiff's motto: "Only the best is good enough for children." Margarete Steiff created the first Steiff animal in 1880—an elephant made of felt, that was intended for use as a pincushion. The elephant was the first soft-filled fabric toy animal and soon became very popular with children who enjoyed playing with it. From November 1904 onwards, every Steiff animal leaving the factory had a "Button in Ear." The original button was made of metal, embossed with an elephant. The elephant was later replaced by the name "Steiff" but still a world-famous trademark: Steiff "Button in Ear." Over the years, Margarete Steiff GmbH has become the leading manufacturer of high-quality toys and collectors' items. The main production facility is located in the German town of Giengen/Brenz, Germany. Steiff originals are highly valued. Collectors and enthusiasts pay very high prices for antique Steiff products--innumerable rarities have already been auctioned and have repeatedly produced headline-grabbing prices. up to top Erzgebirge Wooden Folk Art The Erzgebirge is a low mountain range just north of the Czech Republic border in the German Province of Saxony, south of Dresden. Although originally known as a mining center ("Erzgebirge" means "ore mountain"), the mountains have always been covered by abundant forests. The forests of the Erzgebirge Early Erzgebirge Wooden Folk Art (The original Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner nutcracker is in the center.) Beginning in the early 14th century, mining of silver, tin, iron and nickel fueled the area's economy. By the late 17th century, making wooden wares for household use became a second significant source of employment. In response to the growing demand for toys in the 18th century, more and more woodworkers became toymakers. When the mines began to play out around the middle of the next century, the miners turned to the cottage industry of woodworking to support their families. The village of Seiffen, situated in a valley surrounded by forested hills, is the present day center of the traditional Ergebirge wooden folk art. There are about 200 full-time woodworkers in the region and perhaps 800 part-timers, mostly working in small year-round workshops and family enterprises. Many of the workshops represent generations of the same family, working in the same surroundings, to preserve the heritage of wooden toys and folk art designed by their ancestors more than a century ago. up to top Füchtner Nutcrackers Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, arrives at the Füchtner Homestead in Seiffen Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner (1844-1923), known the world over as the "Father of the Nutcracker" carved the very first nutcracker around 1870. His home workshop in Seiffen, the small toy-making village in the middle of the Erzgebirge in eastern Germany, is still the home of the finest nutcrackers. His ancestors were carpenters and in the wintertime they were out of work. In order to provide for their families, they used their woodcarving skills to produce wooden figurines. In 1786, Gotthelf Friedrich Füchtner sold the first wooden figurines at the Dresdener Striezel Market. Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner Today, six generations later, Volker Füchtner honors his great-great-great grandfather by still producing nutcrackers in the old tradition in the very same home workshop—the birthplace of the nutcracker. Volker Füchtner at his lathe Volker Füchtner and Roger Lund, owner of The Christmas Haus, in the Füchtner workshop Please report any broken links or errors to webmaster@TheChristmasHaus.com. © The Christmas Haus and The Summer House Collection, LLC, 2008