Why I Still Love Making Christmas Ornaments by Hand
There are faster ways to make Christmas decorations. I know that. There are machines that can print, cut, stitch and produce things much faster than I ever could sitting at my worktable with ribbon, fabric, trim and a box full of sparkly little pieces that somehow always end up everywhere. And yet, I still love making Christmas ornaments by hand. I think part of the reason is that Christmas has never felt mass-produced to me. It’s personal.
It’s the ornaments we remember from childhood. The one your child made at school that may be hanging slightly crooked but still gets a place on the tree every year. The ornament from your first home. The one Grandma gave you. The one that brings back someone you miss. Those are the decorations that matter.
It Starts With a Simple Ornament Base
Most of my handmade ornaments begin looking very ordinary. Then comes the fun part. I choose the ribbon or fabric, decide on the colors, and start adding the details that give each ornament its own personality. Sometimes I know exactly what I want it to become. Other times the ornament has other ideas.
I may start with red ribbon and think I’m making something traditional, then find a piece of gold trim or a beautiful jewel and suddenly the whole design goes in another direction. That’s one of my favorite things about working by hand. There’s room to change my mind. And I do. Frequently. 😊
I Don’t Want Every Ornament to Look Exactly Alike
One of the things that makes Ornaments by Rebecca T different is that my handmade ornaments are one of a kind. I don’t make a dozen identical copies. Once an ornament is finished, that particular combination of ribbon, trim, jewels and little details belongs to that ornament. When it sells, it’s gone. I like knowing that somewhere, someone will open their Christmas box each year and pull out something that isn’t sitting on hundreds of other trees. It feels a little more personal that way.
The Tiny Details Are Usually My Favorite Part
I love the point in the process when the basic ornament is finished and I get to decide what it still needs. Maybe a narrow line of rhinestones. Maybe a vintage-looking trim. Maybe emerald-colored stones, pearls or something with just enough sparkle to catch the Christmas lights. There is definitely such a thing as too much sparkle. I just haven’t established the exact scientific measurement yet. Sometimes I’ll move one little embellishment several times before deciding where it belongs. No one buying the ornament will ever know that. But I will. And that’s part of handmade work.
Handmade Things Carry a Little Bit of Their Maker
I don’t mean that in some grand, poetic way. I mean there really was a person sitting there making it. Someone chose the ribbon. Someone noticed that a jewel wasn’t straight and fixed it. Someone decided the gold trim looked better than the silver. Someone turned the ornament around in her hands several times and thought, “Nope. It needs something else.” In my case, that someone is me. Every ornament passes through my hands from the beginning until I finally look at it and decide it’s finished. That’s a very different feeling from opening a carton of identical products.
Christmas Trees Should Tell Stories
The prettiest Christmas trees aren’t always the perfectly coordinated ones. I love trees that tell you something about the people who live in the house. There’s the baby’s first Christmas ornament. The wedding ornament. The ornament from a vacation. The handmade ornament someone fell in love with simply because the colors reminded her of Christmas at her grandmother’s house. And somewhere toward the back is probably something made out of construction paper that has somehow survived since 1987. That one stays too. Over time, a Christmas tree becomes a family scrapbook with branches. That’s why I think ornaments are such lovely things to make.
Making ornaments takes time. There are evenings when my table is covered with ribbon scraps, rhinestones and enough supplies to make it look as though a very small Christmas store exploded. But then I finish one. I hold it up. I imagine it hanging on someone’s tree this Christmas and then coming out of the ornament box again next year. And the year after that. That’s the part I love. I’m not trying to make the most ornaments. I want to make ornaments that someone is happy to find in the Christmas box year after year. And as long as I still feel that little spark when I finish one, I’ll keep making them by hand.
