Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Christmas Project Completed

 I purchased a big wooden Christmas windmill carousel at an after-Christmas sale at least 15 years ago when Rite Aid was still called Payless Drugs. It is similar to little brass Swedish angel chimes only bigger and it is made of wood.  Made of wood in China.  Every single year I take it out of the box, set it up and say SOMEDAY I am going to fix this ugly thing. 
 Last year I purchased some sweet vintage angels thinking they would be perfect for the carousel.  Still nothing.  Then the lovely and talented Karla Nathan did this post that finally got me going. Her blog is so cool that way!  Yes, I know that what I did bares no resemblance to what she did but it was the spark my muse needed to get me off the pot.
 I used the Glidden Gripper primer that she is always recommending so no sanding, which was a good thing.  They must have plenty of varnish in China because I think they had dipped it.
 That was after I snapped off the ugly little nativity  figures.  I saved them (of course!) and maybe SOMEDAY I will do something Karla-inspired with them.  So why did I buy this thing if I thought it was ugly, you might wonder.  Well it was big and it was made of wood and and I knew it had potential and it was 75% off.  Wouldn't you buy it?
 This is the beginning of the story, pre-primer and pre-glitter.  I snapped the figures off the very top before I thought to take a picture. You can also see the little angels, pre-glitter, on the right.
And this is the box, "as found".  When the granddaughter comes over for Christmas Eve I will light the candles to it sparkles and talk to her about how the rising heat makes the blades and the angels spin.
I am linking up with Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.  We are celebrating on Christmas Eve so I plan to spend Christmas Day blog hoping, relaxing with a good book, eating leftovers and watching a couple of Walton's re-runs (thank you Casey!).  Happy Christmas!

5 comments:

oldgreymare said...

What a true creative gal you are! No, I would not have seen the potential for such a cute outcome.
merry merry
xx
z

Diane said...

I must agree with oldgreymare--and I love that--the way the candles set the motion of the piece.
Enjoy your Christmas!

Sharon said...

I love your blog and the windmill is beautiful.
I found you via Button Floozies.

Susan said...

Beautiful!I love the addition of the angels!

John Ranes said...

Kathy, You definitely improved on this Chinese made knock-off. I like the way you coordinated even the colors of the tops of the fence posts.

Just so you know...American's often mislabel these as "Windmills" or "carousels" because they turn. Dig a little deeper and you will find that these originate in the Ore Mountains of Saxony, Germany and are known as Weihnachts Pyramiden in German, or Christmas Pyramids. They can also be referred to as Candle pyramids as well. They typically come natural or hand-painted in colors. Only a handful of makers in the Erzgebirge region (Ore Mountains) still produce these.

These original German versions are much more refined that the Asian product that you started with. KWO, Ulbricht, Blank, Flath all still produce these, but the most well known maker is Ringo Mueller who appeared on the Martha Stewart Christmas special a few years ago.

Check these to see more: German Christmas Pyramids

Enjoyed your blog and your creative endeavor! John