Old toys for the new year. Antique Russian New Year's toys and crafts

hunter201 12.01.2014 - 19:32

Often ads began to come across for the sale of old Christmas tree decorations, including on Avito. Wow, amazing prices.

Below I will try to post a photo of the old Christmas tree decorations I have, a request from knowledgeable people to say - are they worth a thread? (After NG I want a freebie! 😊)

mazzer 12.01.2014 - 19:48

Of these, I only have a traffic light left (in the style of the penultimate one), they are personally valued by me and I won’t sell it for any rugs 😊

hunter201 12.01.2014 - 19:55

Interesting - I insert new photos, and the old ones disappear somewhere.... 😞

On the second photo from the bottom there is an inscription on the edges - "Beijing". If I remember correctly, my father-in-law served in China in 1949-1952. It is quite possible that this toy of those years, although I can’t say for sure - no one is alive anymore ...

Alexander- 12.01.2014 - 20:15

Russian With a Chinese - brothers on the CENTURY. They used to sing.
AP.

pakon 12.01.2014 - 20:19

They were the same. Every year the collection melted and melted like snow in spring. They are fragile and the inner layer crumbled.
Now balls from IKEA

Griggen 12.01.2014 - 20:49

The prices at which old toys are on Avito does not mean that they are bought at these prices)

As far as I know, collectors value old Christmas decorations with Soviet symbols, as well as technical ones - the shape of airplanes, locomotives, astronauts, etc.

hunter201 13.01.2014 - 11:12

Wait, more opinions! 😊

13.01.2014 - 11:43

Griggen
Collectors value vintage Christmas decorations with Soviet symbols, as well as technical orientation

RTDS 13.01.2014 - 11:46

hunter201
So I decided to ask the members of the forum - is this a myth or a reality?

Who cares ... I wouldn’t give a penny for them - I’m not a collector, I don’t feel nostalgia, and most of the old Soviet toys look like garbage ... (I’m not specifically talking about yours - in general, because they are shabby due to age , paint darkens and rubs off, etc.)

mageric 13.01.2014 - 13:11

I don’t know the topic, but if there are collectors for this product, then the prices can be breathtaking. Well, for example, a toy in the form of an astronaut was released for the flight of the first astronaut. And let's say 1000 pieces were released. Or even 100k. You can imagine how much a connoisseur would pay for such a treasure.

RTDS 13.01.2014 - 14:26

mageric
Well, for example, a toy in the form of an astronaut was released for the flight of the first astronaut. And let's say 1000 pieces were released. Or even 100k. You can imagine how much a connoisseur would pay for such a treasure.

In Soviet times, events, such as the flight of the first cosmonaut, were accompanied by various souvenir products, produced in ohuliard editions ... So that any collective farmer could buy it in his general store. There could be no talk of any "1000 pieces" ...

mageric 13.01.2014 - 14:34

You know better, I'll say, in this topic, I'm zero.

hunter201 13.01.2014 - 15:51

pakon
Their poor children, the sea of ​​\u200b\u200btoys, and most likely they don’t decorate the Christmas tree))))

"Poor children" do not experience any shortage, on the contrary, they do not know which toy to hang and which one. leave, so many of them. But these toys are not used.
The topic is not charged to the detriment of children, there is no need to make monsters out of grandfathers and parents, it is purely commercial interest

BLIND MOLE 13.01.2014 - 15:59

"wait forty years - it will be a rarity." children who played with these toys grew up, when you are over 40 - more and more often you want to remember "golden childhood". Therefore, they are already appreciated by those who collect and who are nostalgic. An example - at a flea market you can buy for 10, 15, 20 rubles. in commissions it will also be 50, 100, 150. So are they valued?)))

13.01.2014 - 20:22

14.01.2014 - 01:46

So I'm wondering ... for how much 😊 toys are never superfluous. I won’t go to barry them, I’m for myself.

hunter201 14.01.2014 - 02:00

mageric
How many toys do you have in total? How much do you want to get for them in bulk?

Except for the topmost photo, all toys are photographed one by one. And on the top photo - the rest, in the box the rest, which can not be removed one at a time.
But in general, there were more toys laid out of the box, I just took off only one part.
As for the price - in the title of the topic, I ask the question, because. I don't even know about. There is a site for toys, I found it yesterday, where specialists estimate at least a fork of prices. I'll try to find out there, I registered yesterday .... but the Old New Year prevented! 😊
I had to meet

This situation with prices is already familiar to me - about 2 years ago I posted a photo of an old short-wave (seemingly 😊) radio station, and asked the question - how much could it cost? And I began to receive messages in the mail asking me to sell it, and that I name the price! Well, I laughed, and the radio station remained with me 😊 And now it is waiting for its turn, I will post it again soon 😊

here are all the toys from this box

pakon 14.01.2014 - 07:53

hunter201
"Poor children" do not experience any shortage

Yes, I was not talking about your children, but about the children of collectors Vintage Christmas decorations

Exhibition of old Santa Clauses from the collection of Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky
This unique exhibition "Frosty DEDstvo" was held at the end of 2007 in Moscow in the children's art gallery "Child's View". The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky, a remarkable director-animator, founder and permanent head of the Moscow animation studio "Pilot", who recently passed away.

The author of the cartoons "Plasticine Crow", "Last Year's Snow Was Falling", "Koloboks Are Investigating", the plasticine screensaver of the program "Good night, kids" has been collecting a collection of old Santa Clauses for almost ten years. Part of this collection, as well as old Christmas toys and photographs from personal archives, were presented at the exhibition.

The history of the collection, written by A.M. Tatarsky, such.

Back in the mid-80s, Alexander Mikhailovich wrote the script for the multi-part animated film "Grandfathers of Different Nations". It was supposed to be an exciting journey-adventure of Santa Claus, who makes a trip around the world, meeting with "his relatives abroad" - Santa Claus from the USA, Yultumte from Sweden, Uvlin Ung from Mongolia, Per Noel from France, St. Basil from Cyprus, Babbo Natale from Italy and many, many others. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make this film, but interest in the characters responsible for the meeting of Christmas and the New Year has been preserved.

These characters have seen a lot in their lifetime. A.M. Tatarsky treated them like living beings, knew everyone by sight, and communicated with them.

I was at this exhibition - it leaves a very warm feeling.

Unfortunately, it is not known whether A. M. Tatarsky's collection is exhibited anywhere now.

Fragment of an article with the founder of the art project "Flea Market" Marina Smirnova:

Tell us, what old New Year's toys, decorations are of interest to collectors? How much do certain things cost?

Before the revolution, Russian partnerships and artels made copies from German Christmas decorations. After 1917, Christmas trees were no longer decorated with toys on religious and Christmas themes, they were replaced by figurines of fairy-tale characters, household items, and symbols of the Soviet era.

But the most beautiful toys appeared in the late 50s - early 60s - cardboard, wadded. However, they quickly ceased to be produced, new technologies appeared - the counters were filled with Christmas balls.

Therefore, the highest prices are just for cardboard and cotton toys. It all depends on the rarity and safety of a particular item. For example, at one Russian online auction, a cardboard toy went under the hammer for 7-8 thousand rubles, the cost of cotton toys reached 15 thousand rubles per copy.

However, at flea markets and specialized fairs, where many sellers gather at the same time, the prices for old Christmas tree decorations are much lower. Toys of the 50s can be bought for 50-100 rubles, the most expensive - wadded - in good condition - for 700 rubles.

Most of all, of course, collections are valued. For example, Soviet factories produced a series of Christmas decorations based on the fairy tales "Chippolino" and "Golden Key". The price of a complete collection can exceed 10 thousand rubles.

Many collect cardboard flags that have now disappeared from sale. They lack the radiance, gloss, commercial background that is inherent in modern toys. The price of such flags, although they are not considered very rare, depending on the state of preservation, can range from 200 to 1000 rubles.

“Cribble, crabble, boom! - said the Storyteller from The Snow Queen, remember - The magic begins!

And we are approaching the only holiday on the whole planet - the Old New Year. Only we have the Old New Year, from January 13 to 14 - this is necessary, what a miracle! And January 14, according to the New Style, is the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord, as one of the authors correctly reminded me.

My great-aunt Elizaveta, aunt Lilya, despite the Soviet regime, always celebrated the Old New Year. She invited all her family. I baked an unforgettable Napoleon cake, cabbage pie, gingerbread - this is what I could remember. Aunt Lilya lived on Kuznetsky Most opposite the Pet Shop. The house has survived to this day. The last old house that joined the new KGB building.

And since we have an Old New Year, let me tell you what I know about old New Year's toys. It so happened that nothing rare was thrown away in my family, and I unwittingly turned out to be the owner of a small toy collection. Christmas decorations are made of glass, they break, and every year there are less and less vintage toys, and they cost more and more.

With great pleasure we visited the city of Klin, in the museum "Klinskoye Compound" at the pre-revolutionary factory "Yolochka". We were also told the history of the creation of toys, showed the manufacturing technology, we visited the museum and the New Year's performance of Santa Claus. I was delighted to recognize my toys in the museum. I shot, unfortunately, on a mobile phone through the glass of a shop window, something may be a little out of focus, sorry.

The history of the emergence of glass toys was told to us by. A long time ago, in Holland, they celebrated Christmas. It was the main Christian winter holiday. In Europe, it was customary to bring a live Christmas tree into the house and decorate it with apples, nuts, gilded cones, white and pink shortbread roses, and candles. Gifts for the kids were brought by the baby Christ or St. Nicholas, Santa Claus.

Here is what the decorated Christmas tree looked like in those days:

But one day a very cold summer happened, and the apples did not ripen. There was nothing to decorate the Christmas tree! And one master glassblower blew glass balls, which the craftsmen painted "apple-like". It is said that this is how the first Christmas tree decorations made of glass appeared.

Interestingly, the first Russian Christmas decorations looked different. In the South of the Russian Empire were fashionable bright glass beads.

If the balls are blown out - like this:

And colored:

And painted by hand:

Then the technology for making beads (and any Christmas figure of complex shape) is different.

The beads were made from a hot glass tube placed in special forms - tongs (photo on the right, in the foreground):

Then they were covered with amalgam, became "silver", then painted. It turned out something like this:

The peddler hung beads around his neck and walked with them through the villages and villages, selling them to women and girls. It is clear that no one really needs beads in winter - you can’t see them under a zipun, and then peddlers came up with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bselling them as a New Year decoration.

This is how Christmas tree beads and figurines made on their basis appeared:

Here is one of my purchases of this year (they gave me a gift, thank you very much) - a traffic light made of beads!!!

Pre-revolutionary decorations were also made from cotton wool. To strengthen and shine the outer layer, the toys were covered with glue and sparkles, painted.

These dolls have porcelain heads - German toys, now they cost fabulous money.

Every year we have this cute stork hanging on the Christmas tree. The children were greatly offended that the stork was suspended by the neck, but for what else? And now an ancient old man hangs every time below, so that it is not visible ... But - a tradition. A child decorating a Christmas tree knows that mommy will still make her take out the box again for the sake of the stork, and there is a lot more that is dear to the collector ... they hang up silently.

Many decorations were made from cardboard. For example, here is such a wonderful angel - a cardboard head and glass beads - to decorate the top:

All sorts of popular garlands of flags:

bonbonnieres(boxes with a surprise, or "surprises"), crackers and "Dresden cardboard"- figures squeezed out of cardboard, glued in halves - a voluminous cardboard figure was obtained:

"Dresden Cartonage"

Here's what the Christmas tree in The Nutcracker might have looked like:

After the revolution of 1917, the Christmas tree was declared a relic of the past..

But in 1937, I. V. Stalin decided to revive the traditions, and New Year's lights shone again, New Year trees appeared again in clubs and apartments. St. Nicholas and the baby Christ were replaced by the fabulous Santa Claus with his granddaughter Snegurochka, and there was a need for Christmas tree decorations!

I found a picture of the first invitation card in Column Hall of the House of the Unions in Moscow and a photo from this Christmas tree.

Someone in the families had toys, and everyone remembered how to make them at home. Here's how he told A. Gaidar in the story "Chuk and Gek" about preparing for the New Year:

“The next day, it was decided to prepare a Christmas tree for the New Year.

From something they just didn’t invent to make toys!

They stripped off all the color pictures from the old magazines. Animals and dolls were made from rags and cotton wool. They pulled all the tissue paper out of the box from the father and twirled the lush flowers.

What a gloomy and unsociable watchman was, and even when he brought firewood, he stopped for a long time at the door and marveled at their new and new ideas. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He brought them silver paper from a tea wrapper and a large piece of wax that he had left from shoemaking.

It was wonderful! And the toy factory immediately turned into a candle factory. Candles were clumsy, uneven. But they burned as brightly as the most elegant purchased ones.

Now it was up to the tree. The mother asked the watchman for an ax, but he didn’t even answer her, but got on his skis and went into the forest.

Half an hour later he returned.

OK. Let the toys be not so hot and elegant, let the hares sewn from rags look like cats, let all the dolls have the same face - straight-nosed and goggle-eyed, and let, finally, fir cones wrapped in silver paper not sparkle as much as fragile and thin glass toys, but, of course, no one in Moscow had such a Christmas tree. It was a real taiga beauty - tall, thick, straight and with branches that diverged at the ends like stars.

Magnificent molded toys say that for 20 years "without a Christmas tree" craftsmen have not lost their skills:

And if someone still has such toys, seemingly inconspicuous - do not throw them away - you are the happy owner expensive rarity!

The peaceful life of our country was interrupted by a terrible destructive war. It was not before the New Year holidays, but after the war, the production of Christmas tree decorations resumed.

The 1950s and 1980s were boom years for the toy industry. What our factories did not produce! And balls, and "flashlights", and a wide variety of molded toys. They made decorations from foil, cardboard. And what original garlands replaced the candles!

I will talk about this heyday in the next article.

Thank you for reading and wishing you a Happy Old New Year!

With age, there is a desire to remember childhood, to plunge into nostalgia, to touch associations that will awaken bright and pleasant emotions. For some reason, the New Year in the style of the times of the USSR remains a bright and welcome holiday in the memory of those over thirty, despite its certain simplicity, scarcity and unpretentiousness of festive table dishes.

The trend to celebrate in the manner of yesteryear is only growing. And a party in the American style no longer inspires contemporaries so much, I want to dress up fragrant needles with old Christmas tree decorations, and place cotton wool, nuts and tangerines under it.

Christmas tree variety

The Christmas tree was decorated with an abundance of assorted ornaments. Particular attention is drawn to the old Christmas decorations on clothespins, allowing you to place them anywhere on the tree, even at the top or in the middle of a branch. This is Santa Claus, and the Snow Maiden, Snowman, Squirrel, bump, month or flashlight. Toys of a later version are all kinds of cartoon characters, funny clowns, nesting dolls, rockets, airships, cars.

Icicles, cones, vegetables, houses, clocks, little animals, stars, flat and voluminous, beads, together with cotton wool, flags and garlands of small light bulbs, created a unique festive composition. A considerable responsibility fell on the one who decorated the Christmas tree - after all, a fragile product shattered into fragments with the wrong movement, so it was a privilege to manage the preparations for New Year's Eve.

From toy story

The traditions of decorating the New Year's tree came to us from Europe: it was believed that edible items - apples, nuts, sweets, placed near the Christmas tree, were able to attract abundance in the new year.

Vintage Christmas decorations from Germany, like the current ones, form a trend in the field of Christmas decorations. In those years, fir cones covered with gilding, silver-plated stars, brass figurines of angels were very fashionable. The candles were small, in metal candlesticks. On the branches they were placed with a flame outward, and lit exclusively on Christmas night. In the past, they had a huge cost per set, not everyone could afford them.

The toys of the 17th century were inedible and consisted of gilded cones, objects in foil based on tin wire, cast in wax. In the 19th century, glass toys appeared, but they were available only to wealthy families, while middle-class people decorated the Christmas tree with knocked down cotton, fabric and plaster figures. Below you can see what the old Christmas decorations looked like (photo).

In Russia, there were not enough raw materials for the production of glass-blowing jewelry, and imports were expensive. The first were old Christmas tree athletes, skiers in funny jerseys, skaters, pioneers, polar explorers, wizards in oriental outfits, Santa Clauses, traditionally with a big beard, dressed "in Russian", forest animals, fairy-tale characters, fruits, mushrooms, berries, simple to make, which were gradually supplemented and transformed before another, more fun variety appeared. Dolls with multi-colored skin symbolized the friendship of peoples. Carrots, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers, pleased with their natural color.

Grandfather Frost became a popular long-liver for many countries - a weighted figure made of cotton wool on a stand, which was later purchased at a flea market, with a face made of polyethylene and other materials. Gradually, his fur coat also changed: it could be made of foam, wood, fabric or plastic.

In 1935, the ban on the official celebration was lifted, and the production of New Year's toys was launched. The first of them were symbolic for some; they depicted state attributes - a hammer and sickle, flags, photos of famous political figures, others became a display of fruits and animals, airships, gliders, and even the image of the Khrushchev era - corn.

Since the 1940s, toys have appeared that depict household items - teapots, samovars, lamps. During the war years, they were made from production waste - tin and metal shavings, wire in limited quantities: tanks, soldiers, stars, snowflakes, cannons, airplanes, pistols, paratroopers, houses, and what you can’t find, taking out a bag of old Christmas tree decorations from the attic.

At the fronts, New Year's needles were decorated with spent shells, shoulder straps, made from rags and bandages, paper, burned out light bulbs. At home, old Christmas toys were built from improvised means - paper, fabric, ribbons, eggshells.

In 1949, after the anniversary of Pushkin, they began to produce figurines-characters from his fairy tales, to which other fairy-tale characters were subsequently added: Aibolit, Little Red Riding Hood, Dwarf, Little Humpbacked Horse, Crocodile, Cheburashka, fairy-tale houses, cockerels, nesting dolls, mushrooms.

Starting from the 50s, toys for miniature Christmas trees appeared on sale, which were conveniently placed in a tiny apartment and quickly sorted out: these are cute bottles, balls, animals, fruits.

At the same time, old Christmas decorations on clothespins were now common: birds, animals, clowns, musicians. Sets of 15 girls in national costumes were popular, promoting the friendship of peoples. From that time on, everything that could be attached "grew" on the Christmas tree, and even sheaves of wheat.

In 1955, in honor of the release of the Victory car, a miniature appeared - a New Year's decoration in the form of a glass car. And after the flight into space, astronauts and rockets glow on the needles of the Christmas trees.

Until the 60s, vintage glass bead Christmas decorations were in fashion: tubes and lanterns strung on wire, sold in sets, long beads. Designers are experimenting with shape and color: figurines with relief, elongated and snow-covered pyramids, icicles, and cones are popular.

Plastic is actively used: transparent balls with butterflies inside, figures in the form of spotlights, polyhedrons.

From the 70-80s, toys of their foam rubber and plastic began to be produced. Christmas and village themes turned out to be dominant. Updated cartoon characters: Winnie the Pooh, Carlson, Umka. In the future, mass production of Christmas tree decorations became the norm. A fluffy snowball has come into fashion, with the hanging of which it is not always possible to see the rest of the decorations on the Christmas tree.

Closer to the 90s, bright and shiny balls, bells, houses are leading in production, and they are more fashionable, and not the movement of the human soul, as before the 60s.

There is a possibility that in the future faceless glass balls will fade into the background, and the old ones will acquire the value of antiques.

DIY cotton toys

Pressed factory cotton toys were produced on a cardboard basis and were called "Dresden". After they improved somewhat and began to be covered with a paste diluted with starch. Such a surface protected the figurine from dirt and wear.

Some made their own. When the whole family gathered, people created Christmas tree decorations using a wire frame and painted them themselves. Today it is not difficult to recreate such old Christmas toys from cotton wool with your own hands. This will require: wire, cotton wool, starch, egg white, a set of gouache paints with brushes and a little patience.

First, you can depict the desired figures on paper, draw their base - a frame, which is then made of wire. The next step is to brew starch (2 tablespoons per 1.5 cups of boiling water). Disassemble the cotton wool into strands and wind it on the frame elements, wetting it with a paste and fastening it with threads.

Without wire, with the help of cotton wool and glue, you can make balls and fruits, and also use a paper base instead of metal somewhere. When the toys are dry, they should be covered with a new layer of cotton wool and soaked in egg white, which allows you to work with thin layers of cotton wool, penetrates into inaccessible areas and prevents the base material from sticking to your fingers.

The layers of cotton wool need to dry well, after which they are ready for painting with gouache, you can draw details, accessories on them, and insert faces from the pictures. This is exactly what the old Christmas tree decorations made of cotton wool were like - light enough to hang them on a threaded thread or put on branches.

Snowman

Everyone is familiar with the old Christmas tree toy Snowman made of cotton wool of the 1950s, which was later produced from glass and is currently a collector's item. Retro style clothespin decoration is a great gift for Christmas.

But vintage wadded Christmas decorations in memory of past years, as already mentioned, can be created independently. To this end, first make a wire frame, and then wrap it with cotton wool, periodically dipping your fingers into the glue. The body is first wrapped with newsprint or toilet paper, also soaked in paste or PVA. Wadded clothes are attached over the paper base - felt boots, mittens, fringe.

To begin with, it’s a good idea to dip the material in water with aniline dyes and dry it. The face is a separate stage: it is made from salt dough, fabric or in another way, after which they are made convex, glued to the figure and dried.

Toys created by yourself will give the Christmas tree an unforgettable flavor, because they are valuable not for their beauty, but for their originality. Such an item can be presented as a souvenir or complement the main present with it.

balls

Balls in the old days were also popular. But even those that have survived to this day, albeit with dents and hollows, have a unique charm and still attract admiring glances: they concentrate the light of garlands in themselves, thanks to which they create a fabulous illumination. Among them there are even phosphoric, glowing in the dark.

Clock balls, reminiscent of a New Year's dial, were placed on a Christmas tree in a prominent or central place. The arrows on them always showed five minutes to midnight. Such old Christmas decorations (see photo in the review) were placed just below the top, after the most important decoration - the stars.

The old papier-mâché Christmas decorations were also extremely good: these are balls of two halves that you can open and find a treat inside them. Children love such unexpected surprises. Hanging these balloons among others or as a garland, they add an interesting twist and make for a fun mystery or gift discovery event that will be remembered for a long time.

A papier-mâché ball can be made independently using napkins, paper, PVA glue, having first prepared a mass for its layer-by-layer formation. To do this, the paper is soaked for a couple of hours, squeezed out, kneaded with glue, and then applied to the balloon in half. When the layer becomes dense to the touch, it can be decorated with ribbons and beads, painted with paints, and various applications can be pasted. But the most interesting thing is a gift hidden inside a kind of box without a lock. Both a child and an adult will be truly delighted with such an original packaging!

beads

Ancient Christmas decorations in the form of beads and large glass beads were placed on the middle or lower branches. Particularly fragile specimens still have their original appearance due to the fact that they were carefully stored and passed on to grandchildren from grandmothers. Bicycles, airplanes, satellites, birds, dragonflies, handbags, baskets were also made from glass beads.

A series of toys with an oriental theme, released in the late 40s and retaining its popularity, represented such characters as Hottabych, Aladdin, oriental beauties. The beads were distinguished by filigree forms, hand-painted, reminiscent of Indian national patterns. Similar decorations in oriental and other styles remained in demand until the 1960s.

Cardboard toys

Embossed cardboard decorations on mother-of-pearl paper are wonderful Christmas tree decorations according to the old technology, made in the form of figures of animals, fish, chickens, deer, huts in the snow, children and other characters on a peaceful theme. Such toys were bought in the form of sheets in a box, cut out and painted on their own.

They glow in the dark and give the Christmas tree a unique charm. It seems that these are not simple figures, but real "stories"!

Rain

What kind of rain was used to decorate the Soviet Christmas tree? It was a vertical flowing sheen, far from the voluminous and fluffy like contemporary specimens. If there were gaps between the branches, they tried to fill them with cotton wool, garlands and sweets.

Some time later, a horizontal rain appeared. Under the Christmas tree, it could be partially replaced with foam plastic.

paper toys

Many old do-it-yourself Christmas toys - plastic, paper, glass - were created by hand, so they looked very cute and charming. To repeat this masterpiece, you need very little time and materials.

A cardboard ring (for example, left after scotch tape) is decorated inside with an accordion made of colored paper, and outside with sparkles and snow. An accordion can be of different colors or interspersed with tabs, for which you should bend a rectangle of paper of a different color and place it inside the ring.

You can make embossed balls from holiday cards according to the following scheme: cut out 20 circles, draw full-sized isosceles triangles on them from the wrong side, each side of which will serve as a fold line. Bend the circles outward along the marked lines. Glue together the bent edges of the first five circles with the right side outward - they will form the upper part of the ball, five more - similarly to the bottom of the ball, the remaining ten - the middle part of the ball. Finally, connect all the parts with glue, threading a thread through the top.

You can also make three-color balls: cut out of colored paper and stack circles, placing two colors side by side, fasten them around the edges with a stapler. Then glue the edges of each circle as follows: the lower part with the left "neighbor", and its upper part with the right one. In this case, the plates from the stack will straighten out at the connected points, forming a volume. The ball is ready.

Toys made from other materials

The following materials open the field for fantasy:

• figurines made of cardboard and buttons (pyramids, patterns, little men);
• felt, the solid edges of which allow you to cut out any details and bases for toys;
• used disks (in an independent form, with a photo pasted in the center, in the form of an element - a mosaic crumb);
• beads, which are collected on a wire, give it the desired silhouette - a heart, an asterisk, a ring, complement it with a ribbon - and such a pendant is already ready to decorate the branches;
• egg tray (moisten, knead like dough, form and dry figures, color).

To make ball toys from threads: inflate a rubber ball, smearing it with a fat cream, dilute PVA glue in water (3: 1), put the yarn of the desired color in a bowl with glue solution. Then start wrapping the inflated balloon with a thread (it can be replaced with a thin wire). Upon completion, leave it to dry for a day, after which the rubber ball is gently blown off and pulled through the threads. You can decorate such a toy with sequins to your taste.

Of course, the most uncomplicated, but interesting way to create and transform existing balls is to decorate them with artificial or natural materials: wrap the ball in fabric, add a ribbon, paste over with acorns, wrap it with a cord with rhinestones, put it in wire with beads, attach beads, tinsel stones with glue syringe.

Where to buy vintage toys

Today, you can find old Christmas toys made of cotton wool or tinsel in the manner of past years at city flea markets. As an option, you can consider online auctions, online stores offering products from the era of the USSR. For some sellers, such jewelry is generally antiques and is part of the collection.

Today you can find old Christmas decorations in almost any city (Ekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.). Of course, many distributors will offer products of the past, recreated using modern technologies, but among them there are specimens that can surprise.

On the New Year holidays, you should pay attention to the exhibitions of old Christmas decorations, which are often organized in museums. The spectacle looks like a hall with a huge Christmas tree covered with Soviet-era toys from top to floor. On the walls there are stands with New Year's copies of the past, on which you can track the entire history of their transformation and even take a picture. During the New Year holidays, admission to some museums is free.

And when there is a living Christmas tree in the house, decorated with Soviet-era toys, lights are shining and garlands are hung or candles are burning, all that remains is to turn on your favorite film "The Irony of Fate" and sit around the festive table with the whole family, as well as present your loved ones with New Year's souvenirs of your own making.

Vintage Christmas decorations

Exhibition of old Santa Clauses from the collection of Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky
This unique exhibition "Frosty DEDstvo" was held at the end of 2007 in Moscow in the children's art gallery "Child's View". The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky, a remarkable director-animator, founder and permanent head of the Moscow animation studio "Pilot", who recently passed away.

The author of the cartoons "Plasticine Crow", "Last Year's Snow Was Falling", "Koloboks Are Investigating", the plasticine screensaver of the program "Good night, kids" has been collecting a collection of old Santa Clauses for almost ten years. Part of this collection, as well as old Christmas toys and photographs from personal archives, were presented at the exhibition.

The history of the collection, written by A.M. Tatarsky, such.

Back in the mid-80s, Alexander Mikhailovich wrote the script for the multi-part animated film "Grandfathers of Different Nations". It was supposed to be an exciting journey-adventure of Santa Claus, who makes a trip around the world, meeting with "his relatives abroad" - Santa Claus from the USA, Yultumte from Sweden, Uvlin Ung from Mongolia, Per Noel from France, St. Basil from Cyprus, Babbo Natale from Italy and many, many others. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make this film, but interest in the characters responsible for the meeting of Christmas and the New Year has been preserved.

These characters have seen a lot in their lifetime. A.M. Tatarsky treated them like living beings, knew everyone by sight, and communicated with them.

I was at this exhibition - it leaves a very warm feeling.

Unfortunately, it is not known whether A. M. Tatarsky's collection is exhibited anywhere now.

Fragment of an article with the founder of the art project "Flea Market" Marina Smirnova:

Tell us, what old New Year's toys, decorations are of interest to collectors? How much do certain things cost?

Before the revolution, Russian partnerships and artels made copies from German Christmas decorations. After 1917, Christmas trees were no longer decorated with toys on religious and Christmas themes, they were replaced by figurines of fairy-tale characters, household items, and symbols of the Soviet era.

But the most beautiful toys appeared in the late 50s - early 60s - cardboard, wadded. However, they quickly ceased to be produced, new technologies appeared - the counters were filled with Christmas balls.

Therefore, the highest prices are just for cardboard and cotton toys. It all depends on the rarity and safety of a particular item. For example, at one Russian online auction, a cardboard toy went under the hammer for 7-8 thousand rubles, the cost of cotton toys reached 15 thousand rubles per copy.

However, at flea markets and specialized fairs, where many sellers gather at the same time, the prices for old Christmas tree decorations are much lower. Toys of the 50s can be bought for 50-100 rubles, the most expensive - wadded - in good condition - for 700 rubles.

Most of all, of course, collections are valued. For example, Soviet factories produced a series of Christmas decorations based on the fairy tales "Chippolino" and "Golden Key". The price of a complete collection can exceed 10 thousand rubles.

Many collect cardboard flags that have now disappeared from sale. They lack the radiance, gloss, commercial background that is inherent in modern toys. The price of such flags, although they are not considered very rare, depending on the state of preservation, can range from 200 to 1000 rubles.