Paper Mache Ornaments
Handmade paper mache ornaments, painted and glittered by hand, made in small numbers rather than produced in runs. They sit in the low forties, and each one is a single piece.
The hearts are the current design. Each is formed in paper mache and then painted and glittered by hand using German glass glitter, which is finer and catches light differently from the craft-store version. The result is a surface with real depth rather than a sparkle laid on top. Each heart carries a Swiss velvet loop for hanging, in a colour that varies between pieces.
Because every ornament is made by hand, the one that arrives will be very similar to the photograph but not identical to it. The shape shifts slightly, and so does the density of the glitter. That variation is the reason to buy a handmade piece rather than a manufactured one, and it is worth expecting rather than being surprised by.
They work in three places. On a tree they read as a keepsake rather than a filler, on a shelf or a mantelpiece they hold their own without a branch under them, and when wrapping a gift they take the place of a bow. A group of them in a shallow bowl is how they are often displayed through the season and beyond.
They are made with Elena Medina, who works in paper mache and hand glitters each piece, and her pumpkins and gourds sit alongside these in the wider ornament range.
We keep the range in stock as pieces are made. If there is a particular shape or colour you are looking for that you are not able to find on the website, reach out to us and we will be glad to help.
The heart is the shape we carry at the moment, in pink, and it works as well on a wrapped parcel as it does on a tree. It is also one of the few ornaments we sell that is genuinely one of a kind, since the glittering is done by hand and the surface builds up differently on every piece. Elena Medina's larger pumpkins and gourds appear through the autumn, and her work sits alongside Julie Collings' velvet pieces in the ornament collection.
A single one makes a good small gift because it arrives as an object rather than as a card.
