Mina at the bench doing tedious, detailed assembly work. We're overlooking a tray of the Santa Family ornaments taking life.

A closer Look at Santa Production.

Of the thirty or so different ornaments we make (not all offered online) the Santa Family is the most time consuming with an average of 43 pieces on a three child ornament. The tray in this picture is about 70% complete. Three trays with a few children per set takes two people four to five hours to make the dough, roll and cut it, then assemble. After Assembly is baking, decorating/painting then dipping in liquid plastic. Drying takes 24 hours or so and hard curing 36 hours. The final step is for you, the customer, when we personalize to your liking.

The beginning of some three dimensional ornaments. This brown cottage experiment worked out well with exception of the time to produce it.

Just out of their molds and before assembly, A dozen highly decorated Brick Houses emerged from this rubble.

Mini houses became mini brick houses and went for a swim in the plastic pool. They're nearly done but will drip for 1/2 hour then dry and cure for 36 hours.

The only remaining mini house from the batch. This one we rejected as odd and kept. Our Christmas 2007 season will include them.

Making the Moose ornament cutters begins with illustration, cutting forms and tin then tapping out the cutters. The tin is formed around a wooden mold then permanently attached to the wood.

Our first Moose trial. We changed mold sizes twice after this trial. The background color changed as well.It's normal for the final product to have gone through four or five evolutions before final production. But in a way, it's like playing with play dough when we were kids. There's still some fun in discovering new methods and techniques, and coming up with fresh ideas and implimenting them.

Bird Houses half way through assembly. One of many trays heading for an overnight baking.