Inge-Glas of Germany Christmas Ornaments Blog: Absinth to Sip

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Absinth to Sip

Absinth....or Absinthe is a most unusual drink according to Wikipedia. This ornament was created in Germany by Inge-Glas. It is made of mouth blown, hand painted glass and will be arriving in a few weeks to Trendy Tree. I didn't know what the drink was actually so I did a little reading and was quite surprised at it's history.

Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe, typically 1 part absinthe and 3 to 5 parts water. During this process, components not soluble in water (mainly those from anise, fennel, and star anise) come out of solution and cloud the drink. The resulting milky opalescence is called the louche (Fr. "opaque" or "shady", IPA [luʃ]). Releasing these components allows herbal aromas and flavours to "blossom" or "bloom" and brings out subtleties originally over-powered by the anise. This is often referred to as "The French Method." (Wikipedia)

Sounds too difficult and time consuming to me....but I'm not a fan of liquors....so I'm not a good judge. Apparently there was quite a lot of misinformation out there about Absinth being hallucinogenic....and having an ingredient found in cannabis....this eventually was proven wrong but there are a lot of writings from literature greats that give typical hallucinogenic descriptions with its use. It was actually banned from the United States. That ban was lifted in 2007 after clarification of the business with the cannabis ingredient was cleared up.

To read more detail, visit Wikipedia.

Visit us at Trendy Tree to see more great Inge-Glas Christmas ornaments arriving soon!

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Inge-Glas of Germany

Welcome to our Inge-Glas of Germany Christmas Ornament blog! We'll be posting photos of our favorite Inge-Glas ornaments and news from Inge-Glas. Heirlooms from Inge-Glas of Germany are mouthblown and handpainted exclusively with the Star Crown. The exquisite ornaments have been produced by the Muller-Blech Family since 1596. All Inge-Glas ornaments are mouth blown and hand painted in workshops in Germany, following the centuries old tradition. Inge-Glas offers superior Germany quality, true Heirloom treasures.

Inge-Glas is Green!

April 28, 2008
Cannon Falls, MN

As retailers and consumers embrace the concept of green business and eco-friendly companies; Inge-Glas® of Germany is proud to inform you that their factory uses only a pure, high grade German glass and lead free paints, lacquers and glitters. They are a 100% lead-free ornament manufacturer.

Unlike other ornament suppliers, Inge-Glas® owns its own factory in Germany. They control all materials used in the manufacturing, packaging and shipping of their heirloom quality ornaments.

They manage all aspects with regard to their product and human life by creating an environmentally safe workplace.

Inge-Glas® is a "green" company and you have their assurance when you buy Inge-Glas® you are buying an environmentally safe heirloom keepsake for you and your children.

Inge-Glas® remains steadfast in maintaining their duty to the ecological future of our planet and preserving century old tradition.

Blowing Glass Ornaments

A hollow glass tube is chosen based on the size and dimensions of the ornament to be created. The glassblower manually rolls the tube with his fingers over the hot flame until it is pliant. One end of the glass tube is sealed in the flame and once the glass is ready, the glassblower will place it into the mouls. The mould is clamped down around the glass while the blower breaths steadily into the glass tube to press the glass into all crevices of the mould. Experience and instinct are necessary from the glassblower for this first production step. The glass ornament is then placed on sand to cool. After the ornament is blown, it is given one full day to rest before it is sent to be silvered.

Painting

Up to thirty single cycles are necessary to paint the details on the ornament. Every color is individually applied and painted with the utmost attention and care to details, like eyes, pupils, and eyebrows. The highly qualified Inge-Glas painters are skillful and very experienced. Every ornament is hand painted through all cycles by the same artist. This gives every Heirloom ornament its extraordinary personalized touch and makes each one unique. It can take anywhere from two to four days to complete the painting process.

Life Touch

A new and innovative painting technique developed by Birgit Mueller-Blech. With precise and meticulous detail, skillfully trained master artists apply ultra fine feather strokes reveling delicate life touches to enhance the uniquely beautiful Inge-Glas Christmas ornaments.

New collections with this new and innovative technique include Innocent Hearts - remembering the innocent times, pure and honest hearts, goodness and warm loving memories of days gone by. Those special childhood moments are captured forever with Innocent Hearts.

The Largest Antique Glassblower Mould Collection

The largest antique glassblower mould collection in the world has been assembled by the family Mueller-Blech. Comprised of around 10,000 moulds from the last two centuries, it is truly an outstanding treasure for the family owned company Inge-Glas. Many of these moulds are used in their production today.

Nearly all of the moulds are from Lauscha, in the Thuringian forest, the homeland of the Inge-Glas founder Heinz Mueller-Blech. The majority of this collection has always been privately owned by the family as they accumulated moulds over time and passed their treasures and craft on to their children and grandchildren. Generation after generation, they passed the valuable moulds on to the next, always with the awareness that this collection is not only part of Germany history but also the future of their glassblower dynasty. The family tradition is more than 400 years old.

Today there are only a few glassblowers still existing in southern Thuringia and northern Bavaria, which hand produce mouth blown Christmas ornaments in the old tradition. With the decline of glass blowers, the existence of the large mould collection of the Mueller-Blech family, the preservation of the craft and the future of mouth blown glass ornaments is very important. The variety of the different mould designs is most extensive. The diversity of many bells, hearts and stars, angels, churches, Santas and Christmas trees, which can ee seen in the Inge-Glas collection, someone may question if there are any more new designs which a glassblower hasn't produced so far. Antique moulds already exist of bible story designs and nativity figurals, houses, windmills, flowers and flower baskets as well as birds and animals from the farm and the wild, but also tea and coffeepots as well as cars and zeppelins, airplanes and ships, toys and baby designs, gingerbread figurals and ice cream cones, shoes and hats, devil heads and lucky charms, fruits and vegetables, fairytale figurals and teddy bears, snowmen and reindeer, fire trucks and steam engines (locomotives), guitars and trumpets, snowflakes and icicles, acorns, pinecones, and the list goes on.

Christmas ornaments decorating trees all over the world - endless and timeless.

Every ornament hand produced by Inge-Glas today is a true piece of valuable German heritage and craftsmanship which people enjoy today as much as in the past. The preserved and protected moulds are highly treasured by the family Mueller-Blech for generations to come.