Besides the material listed for each design, the tools you need are
jewelry or needle nose pliers
metal nail scissors
You could cut the wires just with ordinary scissors but the metal nail scissors lets you cut with its tip real close (so you don't have a sharp end sticking out) and they cost only about 2 ½ dollars.
Pearls or beads come in bags or on strings. I prefer the strings. You can slide the beads from the string right onto the wire. They also come in different qualities. A good source for these is Rufty’s Chrismon Shop. If you are only making a few ornaments you can find most material at Hobby Lobby, Michael's or A.C.Moore.
Make sure you keep each size pearl or bead in its own plastic container. I like freezer bags marked with sharpie. Take care to return leftover beads into the right one. It is so easy to mix up for example 2 and 2 ½ mm size beads which makes it so much more difficult later. I am speaking from experience, sigh!
When you work you might want to use a blue washcloth as your place mat. You can see pearls and beads well on this and the terry texture keeps the beads from rolling away.
Monday, July 22, 2013
A Church Ministry
Yes, this program can also be a successful ministry for a congregation. It can be as little or extensive as the congregation chooses. There are several parts to it.
A = big Christian symbols ornaments for the church tree in the sanctuary
B = miniature Christian symbols ornaments as gifts to all the children in the church
It is important that a church has groups for people with all kinds of different interests. Having a group of people who come together during the year to make big and/or miniature ornaments gives a great opportunity to invite a new person. It is none-threatening to a person who would like to contribute but is not ready to serve in another way. If you want to make a miniature ornament for each child in the church, find out how many you need. You probably want to decide whether you set the criteria “infancy through 12th grade” or include college kids. Every year a different symbol is selected.
The ornaments need to be wrapped in waxed tissue paper (good place to get this is the florist). Flat ornaments can be put in envelopes. For this I seal a business size envelope (a red or green one is especially nice) and print the explanation of Chrismons and the meaning of the symbol on front and back. Cut off one end to the appropriate size and punch a hole in the middle. You can use gift wrap ribbon to close it. For 3-D ornaments you can make the boxes explained in another chapter. Again, including people to help with making the boxes or help with the wrapping is an opportunity for ministry.
Decide with your minister/rector/pastor when the gift-giving should take place. It depends a little on when the big church tree is put up. Second or third Sunday of Advent at the time of the announcements or children’s sermon during the main service is a good time.
About 2 weeks before that date you want to prepare cards to send to each child (his/her name, not one per family). The church secretary can usually generate a label for each child in the congregation including prospects, friends, etc. (you may want to go over these with your minister/rector/pastor and pull some). I see this as a great evangelizing opportunity. Instead of stewardship letters and pledge cards, you are sending invitations to pick up a gift from the church. This could be an important “open door” for a “lapsed member”.
At that time you also want to put an article in the newsletter explaining about the Chrismon tradition in your church, that cards have been sent out etc. Make sure to stress that the children need to bring the cards to exchange for the gift.
On the day of the gift-giving make sure that ushers have blank cards available for those who forgot to bring them back and any guest/newcomer children that day (we don’t want anybody to be left out). The blank cards can be used just like the ones mailed if the child writes his/her name on it clearly. It needs to be emphasized that the child’s name should be written on the blank card.
The originators of Chrismons have copyrighted their designs and demand that the ornaments should not be sold. The designs in my book are mine and I think it is o.k. to sell leftover (not picked up) ornaments to pay for the material and/or benefit a designated charity. If it is for a charity, people should not mind if the price is a little on the high side.
It is nice to make about a dozen big size ornaments for the church tree of the symbol of that year. If there is a group of people making these, a little tag could be attached to each stating who made it for posterity. If it is just one person who made them, the big ornaments could be made available for members to make a donation in honor or memory for a loved one - - and tagged with this info for years to come. Donations could be designated to pay for the material (the big beads and pearls are quite expensive) or for a certain charity (or both). In years to come it will be more fun to decorate the church tree especially if donators, honorees and/or their children or grandchildren are involved.
Suggested text for the cards:
A = big Christian symbols ornaments for the church tree in the sanctuary
B = miniature Christian symbols ornaments as gifts to all the children in the church
It is important that a church has groups for people with all kinds of different interests. Having a group of people who come together during the year to make big and/or miniature ornaments gives a great opportunity to invite a new person. It is none-threatening to a person who would like to contribute but is not ready to serve in another way. If you want to make a miniature ornament for each child in the church, find out how many you need. You probably want to decide whether you set the criteria “infancy through 12th grade” or include college kids. Every year a different symbol is selected.
The ornaments need to be wrapped in waxed tissue paper (good place to get this is the florist). Flat ornaments can be put in envelopes. For this I seal a business size envelope (a red or green one is especially nice) and print the explanation of Chrismons and the meaning of the symbol on front and back. Cut off one end to the appropriate size and punch a hole in the middle. You can use gift wrap ribbon to close it. For 3-D ornaments you can make the boxes explained in another chapter. Again, including people to help with making the boxes or help with the wrapping is an opportunity for ministry.
Decide with your minister/rector/pastor when the gift-giving should take place. It depends a little on when the big church tree is put up. Second or third Sunday of Advent at the time of the announcements or children’s sermon during the main service is a good time.
About 2 weeks before that date you want to prepare cards to send to each child (his/her name, not one per family). The church secretary can usually generate a label for each child in the congregation including prospects, friends, etc. (you may want to go over these with your minister/rector/pastor and pull some). I see this as a great evangelizing opportunity. Instead of stewardship letters and pledge cards, you are sending invitations to pick up a gift from the church. This could be an important “open door” for a “lapsed member”.
At that time you also want to put an article in the newsletter explaining about the Chrismon tradition in your church, that cards have been sent out etc. Make sure to stress that the children need to bring the cards to exchange for the gift.
On the day of the gift-giving make sure that ushers have blank cards available for those who forgot to bring them back and any guest/newcomer children that day (we don’t want anybody to be left out). The blank cards can be used just like the ones mailed if the child writes his/her name on it clearly. It needs to be emphasized that the child’s name should be written on the blank card.
The originators of Chrismons have copyrighted their designs and demand that the ornaments should not be sold. The designs in my book are mine and I think it is o.k. to sell leftover (not picked up) ornaments to pay for the material and/or benefit a designated charity. If it is for a charity, people should not mind if the price is a little on the high side.
It is nice to make about a dozen big size ornaments for the church tree of the symbol of that year. If there is a group of people making these, a little tag could be attached to each stating who made it for posterity. If it is just one person who made them, the big ornaments could be made available for members to make a donation in honor or memory for a loved one - - and tagged with this info for years to come. Donations could be designated to pay for the material (the big beads and pearls are quite expensive) or for a certain charity (or both). In years to come it will be more fun to decorate the church tree especially if donators, honorees and/or their children or grandchildren are involved.
Suggested text for the cards:
XXX Church
has reserved a Christian Ornament (a Chrismon) for you as a giftin honor of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.This year’s Ornament is the XXX.The Ornament will be given out during the XXX service on December XX, the X Sunday of Advent.You DO need to bring this card to exchange it for your gift.All Ornaments not picked up that day will be given to others.If you know that you can’t be there that day, let the office knowin advance and we will keep your ornamentuntil you can pick it up. All you have to do is let us know.
Posted with BlogsyChristian Symbols Christmas Ornaments - The History
Christian Ornaments ! Often called Chrismons
Chrismons were first developed by Frances Kipps Spencer (1917-1990) for Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia, when she volunteered in 1957 to be in charge of decorating the church Christmas tree. She decided instead of traditional balls and colored lights, that handmade ornaments would be more appropriate. The word “Chrismon” stands for “Christ’s monogram”. Ascension Lutheran Church has published several books with patterns. You can Google on “Chrismon” and find more information. You will also find a link to Rufty’s Chrismon Shop there. This is where I buy most of my supplies. The beads and pearls on the strings are of much better quality then the loose ones from craft stores.
Grace Episcopal Church in Paducah, Kentucky, had a “Chrismon tree” long before I became a member there. The pictures were taken December 2006 during daytime. Some of the ornaments are very old and made with styrofoam which is turning brittle and is breaking. I hope to make enough of the large version of the miniature Christian Ornaments to make the tree look fuller and more beautiful soon.
Grace Church has another lovely tradition. Every year volunteers make up to 150 miniature Christian ornaments and these are given to the children in the congregation on the third Sunday of Advent. Every year a different symbol is selected. Since 1996 it has been my job to design them and this has been the source of a lot of fun and great satisfaction for me. After all each is a symbol for Christ and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. Each one comes with an explanation of the symbol and is wrapped in acid free tissue paper to prevent tarnishing.
This picture were taken at First Presbyterian Church, also in Paducah, KY. They too decorate their Christmas tree with these Christian ornaments. When I was working there I would always ask my co-worker Sara (Kennedy) Kipp to try my patterns whether they were good enough to work from.
Christian Symbols Christmas Ornaments - Introduction
It is a great joy for me when others like Chrismons too, make them for their church or as gifts. Since I get a lot of my info from the internet myself I have decided to share my designs this way too.
I am not sure how to go about it though since each pattern is very detailed step-by-step ... too much to put in a blog.
So, one by one I will upload the designs. Be patient. It will take some time. Designing Chrismons is one thing ... mastering the internet is another.
Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments though. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol. And I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain.
I hope you will enjoy making Christian Ornaments as much as I do ~ for your own tree or as gifts!
Blessings,
Christa
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