Hand-blown glass decorations reflect nation's Christmas past скачать в хорошем качестве

Hand-blown glass decorations reflect nation's Christmas past

(15 Dec 2017) LEADIN: Artists and glass blowers are preparing ornaments for their most important holiday, New Year. Russians celebrate two New Years and traditionally their trees are heavily adorned with hand-painted glass. STORYLINE: Since the late 1930s, craft workers have been toiling in this factory creating beautiful tree ornaments during the busy festival season. Glass here is blown and painted in every shape and colour here at "Ariel", but traditional scenes remain very popular. The plant has worked constantly, not even stopping production during World War Two. Production begins with the manufacture of the shape of the object. The glass is heated up to 700 degrees Celsius, so it becomes soft and malleable like caramel. It is then blown inside a mould, taking the desired shape. Despite being famous for its glass ornaments, glassblowing in Russia is a disappearing skill. "In general it (glassblowing) is a disappearing profession. It is passed on from person to person directly. Masters take pupils and teach them and then they become glassblowers. In Russia there are not many glassblowers, (because) people mainly work in machine production," says Maria Bespalova. Here, toys are painted according to previously designed patterns. Attention is given to the smallest details. A couple of strokes creates a hat for a snowman, eyes and a mouth. The artists here make it seem easy but it takes considerable experience and skill. The finished items are displayed for sale making the factory shop a colourful place. It's not surprising that 2018's celebrations are being influenced by the World Cup which will be held in Russia. The fact that it's the Chinese Year of the Dog is also influencing designs. Footballs and dogs, therefore, are everywhere. These en vogue decorations are much more expensive than traditional ones. For instance the decoration featuring the dog design costs $20 USD, double the price of the other tree ornaments. Maria Pimeneva who works in the Ariel factory shop says: "This year toys with dogs and soccer balls are on trend. That is because of upcoming World Cup which will be held in our city of Nizhny Novgorod." The tree decorations can also reveal details about the history of the country. The factory has its own museum where ornaments from the different eras of Russia are kept. The first Christmas tree decorations in Russia appeared in the 19th century, but you would be hard pushed to find them here as they were edible! Curator Svetlana Ivanova says: "The first toys on New Year trees were sweets, golden and silver nuts or gingerbread, but after all these was eaten up the tree was empty. That is why we needed a glassblower who would make nuts, candies and gingerbreads from glass, then they were painted and the Christmas tree stood well-dressed and beautiful for a long time." The Soviet regime banned Christmas celebrations, as a consequence the trees and the ornaments also disappeared. It wasn't until 1936 that the official government line of national atheism suddenly made room for a secular, New Year celebration to take the place of Christmas. From hereon in, the decorations could come back, albeit under scrutiny - each design had to be approved. "Decrees were issued with instructions on how New Year toys should look," explains Ivanova. In the 1960s designs were overwhelmingly concerned with the 'space race', plenty of cosmonauts hung from trees reflecting Soviet pride at putting the first Soyuz into orbit. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...