Making glass toys at home. Here was "Letidor": the oldest factory of Christmas decorations in Russia. Personnel for the production of Christmas decorations

On the eve of each New Year, there is invariably a hype associated with the purchase Christmas decorations. These charming elements of festive decor are always in great demand, because in anticipation of a grand celebration, everyone wants novelty and bright variety. So why not make the most of this glorious trend? Let's look at how you can arrange for and implement Christmas decorations.

Business on Christmas tree decorations

Violent activity around the sale of Christmas items unfolds long before the holiday itself. Shopping centers, ordinary and markets are literally full of colorful goods, among which there is always a wide range of toys. Sellers offer domestic and imported, cheap and expensive products - as they say, for every taste and budget.

In addition to toys of Chinese origin, there are a lot of Ukrainian and Polish "brothers" on the shelves. Yes, and Russia itself is trying to keep up: for example, in the city of Klin, which is located in the Moscow region, there is the oldest and most experienced factory that produces Yolochka glass toys. Differences in the quality of goods are immediately noticeable: Chinese balloons are made of fiberglass - a practical, but not too spectacular material. But glass has always been and will be in demand, which is important to consider when planning an independent production of toys.

Of course, building a business from the very foundations, that is, from the initial production of products, is much more profitable. What should be considered before embarking on a "long voyage"?

How to start organizing the production of Christmas toys

The review should begin with a consideration of the technological process of manufacturing toys. Even the largest and most "advanced" factories rely on manual labor. Glass Christmas decorations come to life thanks to diligent glassblowers, diligently blowing small masterpieces with the help of special pipes and a gas burner. Accordingly, experienced craftsmen are the main element in the production chain. As a rule, in one day each of the workers manages to make a maximum of 250 balls. The lowest salary threshold, on average, is fifteen thousand rubles.

Next, the toys are covered with the thinnest layer of silver or aluminum, subjected to the first background painting and dried. During dyeing, the product must be rotated: this avoids defects due to air bubbles on the surface. In addition, during drying, the toy must be held in an upright position.

hand painted christmas decorations

Next stage - painting . It is also done manually. Mechanization is permissible only where the formation of complex, intricate patterns is not required, and the palette of colors used is rather modest. A typical example is the release of balloons with a printed company logo. To apply logos, the pad printing method is used, which is adopted by many advertising agencies. The technology involves the following action: the picture is transferred to the ball with a swab soaked in paint from a photopolymer cliché. So the image is fixed on the toy. It is worth emphasizing that this process provides an excellent result - strong and durable. No wonder toys with logos are in inexhaustible demand.

However, our goal is to join the most massive and profitable market segment, and this dictates the need to apply hand painted. The tradition of hand-decorating Christmas decorations has a long and interesting story over a hundred and fifty years old. It first originated in Germany. The main difficulty that will have to be faced in organizing such an event is the search and selection of talented artists.

The salary due to such craftsmen will be determined by the place of his residence: of course, Moscow rates are very different from provincial ones. The best option is to invite several specialists from different regions: in this case, the payment can be from ten thousand rubles a month.

Types of painting

Christmas balls are subjected to brush stroke painting, which involves the application of a variety of colors. Depending on your preferences and the imagination of the masters, they can be additionally decorated with all sorts of bright elements - up to the famous Swarovski crystals. Absolutely win-win decor option - folk motives: traditional winter landscapes, images of Santa Claus, Snow Maiden, snowflakes, snowmen and other delights associated with the celebration of the New Year. The popularity of oriental symbols is steadily increasing, so it may make sense to apply the current zodiac sign in different variations (the symbol of the coming year).

The so-called flow painting is based on the use of stencils. In addition to the mass production of toys, demand from outside brings in good revenue. corporate clients: closer to the holidays, they order balloons painted according to a certain theme. And you can go even further by launching the release of a limited edition of toys - with unique, non-banal images and original gift packaging. Each such product should be unique and high-quality - a kind of mini-masterpiece.

Packing Christmas toys

Of course, exclusivity must be combined with rich design. The brighter and more inviting the packaging looks, the more likely it is to capture the attention of consumers. Delight your customers - develop a surprisingly beautiful shell that effectively sets off the luxurious interior. Let the people around you be amazed! Wooden boxes are worth citing as examples - ordering them in a carpentry workshop is not difficult.

You can get by with thick cardboard - of course, if it is of good quality. Whatever you end up with, it is important that fragile toys get a reliable, strong "home" that protects them from damage. The subsequent design depends on the flight of your imagination: creative hand painted, and pasting with special design paper, and even leather trim.

Be sure to take care of the issue of a worthy presentation of the goods. The way the toys will look in the window is very important. Piece products should be perfectly visible from all sides, so it would be nice to place them on special stands. Work hard to create functional and elegant helpers, and then equip everything with such stands. outlets selling your products.

Christmas decorations, PRICE!

Now let's move on to discussing the price. Manual, and besides, exclusive cannot be valued cheaply. In this regard, when setting the price bar, you need to focus not on Chinese products, but on the cost of similar products from the middle price segment (or even expensive, elite).

Absolutely any kind of business based on production requires sensitivity and perseverance in the course of establishing the marketing of finished goods. First of all, be patient: instant success the next day is hardly possible to achieve. Start an active search for buyers on the Internet, look through printed publications like the magazine "Products and Prices". Try to interest wholesalers who sell various Christmas tree paraphernalia: contact them and present your products.

In addition, you can directly negotiate with the shops. No matter how troublesome the process of finding customers can be, do not miss any opportunity to be in the spotlight. Do not neglect participation in various fairs and exhibitions dedicated to the New Year theme: this is a great chance to make a positive impression on a large flow of people. It is possible that you will find many grateful customers!

How to find a supplier of Christmas balls.

So, we have considered all stages of production and marketing of Christmas tree decorations. To start a small company that turns boring blanks into wonderful colorful products, you need to find a stable supplier that provides one-color balls. The optimal diameter of such blanks is about one hundred centimeters: large balls always look more advantageous, and besides, they give wide scope for the creativity of artists.

You need to look for responsible suppliers at factories that produce glass balls (make sure in advance that the products are of good quality). In parallel, start a search for experienced artists who are ready to provide you with decoration services for toys. At least one of them should develop a unique design that gives your goods individuality, the rest of the masters can simply copy his image.

If you want to try your hand at the expensive segment, you should not immediately release huge batches. The fewer creations see the light, the more exclusive they will be recognized: single samples are much more valuable than replicated ones! And do not refuse offers of cooperation from corporate customers.

Finally, the turn of the final stage is approaching - the actual implementation. A lot has already been said about it above, you just have to add that another option is an online store. A thoughtful, beautifully designed and advertised site will not be left without attention, and you will be able to establish contacts even with foreign buyers.

Perhaps the only disadvantage of such a business is its seasonality. However, much depends on how widely you manage to deploy your activities: in the case when relations with wholesalers are excellent, there will be enough work for the whole year!

Unfortunately, now on the Christmas tree decorations market there is a solid Chinese plastic stamping. But in Russia there are excellent factories of real glass Christmas decorations! Yes, a different price category, but such beauty is worth it...

Handmade Christmas decorations factories operate in Sokolniki, Karachev, Bryansk region, Krasnoyarsk, Selizharovo village, Tver region, village. Danilovo, Pavlovsky Posad district, there are probably others .... It is simply unrealistic to tell about all the factories in one post, so the story of two factories is to represent the process.

Factory of Christmas decorations "Ariel" (Nizhny Novgorod) has been in production for 20 years. Here, all year round - in spring, and summer, and autumn, and winter - they make Christmas balls and funny glass figurines, which then decorate Christmas trees in different countries peace.

What a beauty!

You can make a special order and the balls will be printed with images according to your order. For example, a series commissioned by the metro:

And in the collection of Nizhny Novgorod masters there are balls with the image of Barack Obama. The craftsmen say that in 2009 the administration of the President of the United States made a special order for their production. The agreement was long and not easy: at first, the artists painted an image of Obama with a wide smile on the ball, because they knew that this charming smile was his calling card. But the Americans said that the president in the image was “too cheerful” and asked to portray him more strictly. As a result, the option with a restrained smile was adopted as the basis. And a broadly smiling Obama remained in Nizhny Novgorod as a keepsake!

Only women work in production, the only man they have is the director. He also owns the idea to make rafters under the roof in the form of a Christmas tree:

Here you can also buy their toys.

Every day the factory accepts 16 tour groups! About 300 children of all ages - from elementary school students to school graduates and students of technical schools - come to the factory to get acquainted with the process of creating Christmas decorations.

So the process...

The chief artist of the factory develops sketches and comes up with plots that will then be applied to jewelry.

Here are the long glass blanks that come into production:

The stick is heated and divided into several small pieces.

Warmed up, pulled

Divided:

This workshop occupies one small office and only 4 people work here.

There are 3 times more artists than glassblowers:

Each artist draws a certain plot. All this is done by hand, but the drawings on the balls are almost indistinguishable from each other:

The drawing is applied in several stages: a toy is taken and one layer of paint is applied, while the paint dries on it, the artist applies the main color to the second toy, etc. Then the artist returns to the first one and draws part of the plot and hangs the toy again, and so on.

The production is relatively small. The factory is located in this pretty house:

Factory "Herringbone" (Klin) For more than 50 years he has been making Christmas decorations.

The first workshops for the production of Christmas decorations opened in the Klin district in the middle of the 19th century. This happened after Prince Alexander Menshikov built a small glass factory here in 1848. Local peasants, having worked in production, equipped home workshops, from where the first Russian Christmas decorations made of glass came out.

For a century and a half, the process of making toys has hardly changed. Unless the workers who fanned the fire with the help of leather bellows were replaced by burners running on compressed gas ...

Working with glass requires extreme concentration and experience. The drone (glass blank) is first heated to the desired temperature, and then a ball or figured toy is blown out of it. For the master, the main thing is to catch the right moment when the drone is already plastic enough, but not too soft yet. Missed a second - and nothing will work.

Due to its shape, the Swan is considered one of the most difficult Christmas decorations to manufacture.

There is a lot of noise in the glass blowing shop. Some workers use headphones, but most have long been accustomed to it.

Mostly women work in production - men do not have enough patience for this craft. Usually 17-20 people work in a glass blowing shop. Most came here right after high school.

The next stage of production is metallization. In special vacuum chambers, toys are coated with a thin layer of aluminum, which makes their surface mirror-like.

After metallization, the toys are painted. Of course, also by hand.

The ball is simply dipped into a container of paint, and then left to dry for several hours.

Unlike balls, complex-shaped toys cannot be evenly painted over without the use of a spray gun.

December is the peak season at the enterprise. On the eve of the New Year, Yolochka is working in an enhanced mode.

After painting, the toys are sent to the painting workshop, where drawings are applied to them according to pre-prepared samples.

Based on the Chinese calendar, the company annually produces toys depicting the symbol of the coming year.

Apart from interesting work, many on Yolochka are kept by a good, by local standards, salary.

Periodically, the enterprise receives and corporate orders. Usually they ask to depict the company logo or some object related to its activities on the toys.

After painting, the “tails” are sawn off from the toys - they will no longer be useful.

Sawing is one of the few manufacturing processes that is automated.

Some of the toys are stripped of their "tails" by hand. A holder is inserted into the holes formed.

Finished toys are packed in boxes and sent to store shelves, to us.

Handmade Christmas decorations are reminiscent of our toys from childhood. Looking at them, you understand that it was precisely such Christmas toys, or very similar to them, that our parents hung on the Christmas tree. Before them, their parents. Fingering in cardboard box like Christmas decorations, you experience inexpressible nostalgia and unity with the past and the future. It cannot be explained in words. You just need to start decorating the Christmas tree with hand-painted toys!

Almost every person New Year associated with the Christmas tree and various decorations. On the modern market a huge range of Christmas toys is presented, but, despite this, original author's products made in a single copy are in great demand. DIY Christmas toys and Christmas tree decorations for sale is a fairly profitable business that anyone can do. How to organize such a business, we will talk in this article.

Types of jewelry

If you want to make DIY Christmas toys for sale, you first need to decide on the product range.

Jewelry can be very different. The most important thing is that all items are colorful and bright. It can be fairy-tale characters:

• Santa Claus;
• Gold fish;
• Snow Maiden;
• Different animals (symbols of the year).

From cardboard and paper of different colors you can make:

• Fruit;
• Vegetables;
• Plants;
• Figurines of people;
• houses;
• Houseware;
• Vehicles;
• Beads, balls, pendants.

Under the New Year? The most popular are Christmas tree tops, balls, all kinds of pendants, beads and animal figurines. Also on Christmas trees are often found lanterns, baskets, bonbonnieres and cardboard houses. From foil you can make garlands, "rain", flowers or stars. Do not forget about New Year's electric garlands and candles.

You can learn more about how to make a Christmas tree toy with your own hands from specialized literature or at courses for beginners. Before the holiday, the sale of New Year's toys brings a good profit, because people do not spare money to decorate their homes. Therefore, after you have completed the training, you can safely open such a business.

Technological process

Christmas tree decorations can be made in a variety of ways. Some of them we learned in school. Nowadays there are many modern materials that allow you to create unique products. If you are attracted to Christmas decorations as a business, use various rhinestones, sparkles, artificial snow from spray cans, multi-colored self-adhesive films and more in your work. All this can be purchased at any hypermarket. ? Try to make Christmas decorations with your own hands. Unusual Christmas decorations are in great demand, so their production will bring good profits.

Netizens are often interested in how to make a Christmas tree toy? It can be made from any material. In the original design, even an old spool of thread will look great. It all depends on your imagination and creativity.

The most common Christmas tree decorations made of cardboard. They can also be created from felt, fabric, and even dough. A very interesting technology is decoupage. It can be used not only for Christmas decorations, but also for furniture, dishes and souvenirs. Using this method, you can make not only Christmas decorations, but also Christmas trees, Christmas candles, and more. This is a great option for those who are interested in DIY.

Organization of production

Often a logo is applied to Christmas balls. This is done using pad printing. Such a product is always in great demand, so if you want to wholesale New Year's toys, offer large companies to apply a logo on products. Usually they buy such products in large quantities, so you can get a good income.

Everything is very simple. Sell ​​or do something that this holiday cannot do without. Quality and affordable prices are the guarantee of your success. The easiest and most affordable option is. It can be combined with the trade in Christmas decorations.

Pricing and sales

There is a huge range of Christmas decorations on the market, prices for which fluctuate in a wide range. Everyone knows that handwork is not cheap, so when determining the cost of your products, you should not focus on low-quality Chinese products. Such jewelry belongs to the middle or even elite price segment.

To organize the sale of New Year's toys in bulk, you first need to find reliable markets. This will take a lot of time. Wholesale buyers can be found on the Internet or through ads in printed publications. In addition, you can offer your products to stores that sell various Christmas decorations. Finding buyers is a rather troublesome process, but without it you will not be able to succeed. Take an active part in exhibitions and fairs. This will allow you to attract potential buyers to your products.

Package

Exclusive original products must be properly packaged. This point should be given special attention. Packaging should be not only decorative, but also protective, since many wholesalers who buy goods from manufacturers in large quantities often complain about a large number of damaged jewelry. To avoid such losses, it is necessary to develop safe packaging, even if it increases the cost of production.

Staff

For the production of Christmas decorations from cardboard, fabric or plastic, you can hire employees without experience and qualifications. But for the manufacture of glass Christmas tree decorations, qualified personnel should be found. Such work requires experience and certain knowledge. Good glassblowers study for at least six months. After that, they get another 2 years of experience in production. No less difficult work on painting glass balls. This also needs to be learned from professionals.

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Expenses

50-100 thousand rubles will have to be spent on equipment for the production of glass balls. The same amount is needed for the purchase of raw materials and materials. In addition, you need to rent a room with good ventilation, since glass is worked at high temperatures and harmful substances are released during the production process.

The profitability of such an enterprise is approximately 15–20% with a fairly large turnover. Since this business is seasonal, many businesses have to work on credit, that is, borrow funds and return them after the end of the season. It's connected with high risks Therefore, this industry is developing very slowly. In order not to invest in production, you can buy Christmas tree decorations without a picture and start painting them. Thanks to this, novice entrepreneurs can get a decent income without large investments.

conclusions

New Year is everyone's favorite holiday, which causes most people positive emotions, a sense of happiness and joy. can be very different, but we recommend that you pay attention to the production of Christmas toys and Christmas tree decorations with your own hands. It is best to engage in the production of exclusive jewelry, because for the organization large enterprise need a lot of start-up capital.

The Christmas goods market has certain specifics. The production of Christmas decorations does not require expensive and technically complex equipment, but it is impossible without qualified personnel.

It is often quite problematic to find specialists in their field, which creates additional difficulties. Nevertheless, despite the factors that scare off investors, the profitability of such a business is quite high. How are Christmas decorations made? What will be the cost of this activity? How to competently organize a business and occupy an empty niche in the market? Read about it in the article.

Seasonal or non-seasonal business?

People buy New Year's paraphernalia just before the holidays, so the start of sales of Christmas tree decorations should fall in September, not earlier. It turns out that this business is seasonal? Not certainly in that way. Yes, indeed, you will receive the main share of the profit in the last three or four months of the year, however, the production of glass balls and other Christmas tree decorations is carried out all year without interruption. Throughout the twelve months, the craftsmen work, trying to produce as many toys as possible. And at the end of the year, the products are sold out like hot cakes, which provides you with a good profit.

But one nuance must be taken into account. During the working period, you will have to pay rent and utility bills, pay wages employees, to purchase raw materials and materials at their own expense, that is, a sufficiently large start-up capital is required. But at the end of the year, all investments will return with a vengeance.

On the issue of competition

Many entrepreneurs are afraid to engage in such a business, because they believe that there is huge competition in it. Actually this is a delusion. Yes, all the shops and street outlets are littered with Christmas tree decorations before the New Year, so it seems that there is simply no place for beginners there.

In reality, there are only a few dozen domestic manufacturers of these products, and there are approximately the same number of wholesalers selling goods. At the same time, the main share of the company's products is exported abroad (for some, up to 90 percent of the products are exported).

Where, then, is there such a variety of New Year's toys on the shelves of stores? The fact is that we import most of the Christmas tree decorations from China. One large domestic factory can produce no more than three hundred to five hundred thousand units of products per year. In general, fifteen to twenty million toys from Russian manufacturers enter the market every year, which is less than 40 percent of the market.

All other items are shipped from China. The production of Christmas tree decorations in this country is on stream, however, most products are made of plastic, respectively, do not differ good quality. But such toys are also cheaper than glass ones.

Assessment of prospects

Competing with Chinese products because of their cheapness is quite difficult, but possible. Russian New Year's decorations have a high subtlety of execution, excellent quality, are distinguished by their uniqueness and variety of design. Now domestic manufacturers are actively introducing new technologies, automating some stages of production, which makes it possible to update the assortment more often in accordance with fashion trends New Year's decor.

Such innovations are perceived by consumers very positively - people are tired of low-quality stamped products and want to see classic vintage toys and glass balls familiar from childhood on the Christmas tree. Therefore, although the market for Christmas decorations is still dominated by imported goods, there is significant potential for the expansion and development of domestic production.

Making Christmas toys

As already mentioned, the creation of such products does not require significant technical equipment. After all, almost the entire process is done manually. Equipment costs will amount to about fifty to one hundred thousand rubles, the same amount will need to be spent on materials and raw materials. Pay special attention to the condition of the room: it must have good ventilation, because most of the work involves the use of high temperatures. Step by step we will tell you about how the production of Christmas tree decorations is carried out.

Purging

First, glassblowers use a gas burner to blow balls out of glass tubes. Such work requires skill and extreme accuracy. Experienced craftsmen use the minimum amount of materials and fixtures and select the right size of the glass tube, the optimal fire mode by eye, determine the moment of air blowing and the uniformity of rotation. And the permissible error (just imagine!) Is only 0.2 millimeters.

How to make a toy-figure from an inflatable ball? For this, special molds are used. It is necessary that the ball has very thin glass walls, and this is quite difficult to achieve, because the glass cools quickly, as a result of which tension is created inside the product.

The production of Christmas decorations is impossible without the involvement of qualified and experienced glassblowers, so search for suitable specialists in advance. Since the work is almost completely manual, the productivity will not be high - one master can give out only 200-250 balls per day. The number of glassblowers you need to hire will depend on how much product you want to produce. In the regions, the salary of such specialists starts from fifteen thousand rubles.

Metallization

Cooled glass blanks are placed in containers with reagents, where they are (to give a shine) covered with a thin layer of metal (aluminum or silver). A special compound (for example, ammonia, silver oxide and distilled water) is injected inside the products, after which they are placed in hot water baths, under the influence of which a reaction occurs, and silver is deposited on the walls.

Painting and drying

The production of Christmas decorations continues in the painting shop, where they arrive after plating. Here, the primary background painting of the balls is carried out. This should be done with constant rotation of the products so that air does not penetrate under the paint layer. Otherwise, bubbles will appear and the coating will be damaged. Toys are painted with nitro enamels, nitro varnishes and other materials.

When varnishing and selecting colors, the method of creative variation is used, as a result, each product is unique and inimitable. It is possible to varnish Christmas balls in containers with paints and varnishes or in booths with an exhaust hood. But in this case, the process is also done manually - the toys are gradually immersed in the paint, while rotating so that the air does not remain under the film.

After varnishing, the products are installed vertically to avoid leakage into the trays of the drying chamber filled with sawdust and sand. Then, with the help of a rag, the remains of sawdust and sand are removed from the varnishing decorative layer, and the glass toys are sent to the artists for final design.

Painting

This stage, like the previous ones, involves the use of manual labor. Decorators know exactly how to make decorations from balls of extraordinary beauty. A pattern is applied to the product, if necessary, covered with sparkles. Painting toys is an even more laborious process than blowing balloons, so the speed of artists' work is lower than that of glassblowers. One master produces 50-100 products per day.

After the drawing is applied, the tip is cut off from the decoration and a cap with a loop is put on this place. Everything, the toy is ready!

Package

Pay special attention to what the products will be packed in. Often, manufacturers outsource the production of cardboard decorative boxes to contractors. But wholesalers often complain that no shipment reaches retailers safe, because many toys break during transportation. Of course, this will negatively affect your reputation, so develop safe packaging, even if it slightly increases the cost of products.

Nuances

As already mentioned, you will have to cover the costs for the production of Christmas balls and glass figurines from your own pocket or through a loan, since wholesale start no earlier than September. Many companies use borrowed funds, and then, as the product is sold, they return loans. Of course, this entails certain risks. In addition, the prices of Christmas decorations cannot be significantly overestimated, otherwise your products will not be able to compete with cheap Chinese products.

However, there are opportunities to increase income. So, some businessmen try to work for export, others organize paid tours of the factory for everyone, during which you can watch the process of making toys and even try to create a glass masterpiece on your own. Dare - and everything will work out! Good luck!

Centennial suitcases with vintage Christmas decorations are a treasure for kids and adults alike. A shaped Christmas toy, passed down from generation to generation, creates a special magic on New Year's Eve.

Factories that produce exclusive toys about a century ago are still working. Glassblowers and artists recreate glass Christmas decorations by hand from sketches. The unique value of each shaped Christmas tree toy in a unique silhouette and individual painting.

On the site in this section, a selection of New Year's glass toys from two manufacturers is provided.

Individually packaged shaped Christmas decorations will become an original souvenir for a person who is not indifferent to things with a touch of antiquity. Tiny, neat Christmas decorations are perfect for decorating a vintage-style Christmas tree.