Christmas Windows

  Yvonne and her son Adam have shared with me this great idea:
 While reminiscing with my son about trips to Downtown Seattle at Christmas time as a child, I described the toy store windows with moving toys and trains, and the magical feeling they instilled.  We decided to try and recreate that experience in our shop window for the children in our neighborhood.

    First, we needed a way to create a visual division between the village and the rest of the shop. Using a starry sky background would have been the easy go-to material for this task, but our small studio shop needed to retain an open concept.  We hung giant ornaments (dollar store items!) in a random pattern from two rods above the window. The rods were separated by about two inches to create depth and allow for more ornaments, without interfering with the strings.  We think thin red ribbons would be a nice substitute next time.

   Once all houses have been placed, add village people, artificial water (small mirrors can be found at the Dollar Store!) and trees.  I remember my mother using foil for small lakes in her little village back in the 1970’s. 

   Time to bring the village to life! We placed our train set in the village and used a paint brush to remove any small snow particles from the track and other areas as needed. Plug in all lights; we strongly recommend surge protector strips- It’s worth a few extra dollars for the peace of mind.

   The village scene is complete. During the day we use just the village lights. However, at night you will need additional lighting to pour over the entire scene. We used $10.00 clamp spot lights from Home Depot and placed them on each side of the window about 2 feet above the village scene, then directed them across the town plaza.  It’s not in the picture, but we have added two tall Nutcracker Soldiers just inside the window on each side in front of the table. It provides balance… and a little more magic!

(The only thing missing is Christmas music playing softly through the window.  It's in work!

This Window display may be viewed at Touch of Glass Studio on 8th Ave SW, directly across from the Jim Wiley Plaza.Nearest cross street is SW Roxbury St, White Center.

 

Bring the family to see the Village lights on and train running from approx. 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every evening until January 1rst.

Merry Christmas To All!

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