A Table Creation

When my friend and I travel we often say it would be fun to look back on a map showing all the places we dart in and out of in one day. We criss-cross all over town, rarely following an organized route anymore since we have GPS. We have a list of the names and addresses of places we want to visit and plug the info into GPS. We also stop at places along the way that look intriguing.

We both agree, a map of our day would look somewhat like Billy’s trails portrayed in the comic Family Circus.

At the end of one day, on our recent trip to Oshkosh, we were headed back to our hotel when saw a garden shop so we stopped in for one last escapade. The nursery had slim pickings of annuals, and no perennials. So we decided to go into the gift shop next-door. As we looked around we noticed a few tables made from glass tops put over different items.  We both thought a glass-top table might be something we could  make (we’re always saying, “We can make that!” HA.) We had been looking at small tables on this trip, because I wanted one for our living room.

The glass top.
The gripper in-between.
The ceramic pot.

Back in Northfield I told my husband the idea and he thought it just might work. So we ordered a piece of glass cut to the size and shape we wanted. We found a mirrored, ceramic pot at Menards that happen to be the right size and height we wanted, and I cut a circle out of a place mat.

One, two three…assembled.

We turned the ceramic pot upside down, placed the cut-out place mat to secure the glass and to cover the bottom of the pot (which was now the top), and put the piece of cut glass on top of it all…and voilà…a wedge table to fit between our two recliners!

Our wedge table!

I have learned… you never know what ideas will generate when you step into new places.

1,000 Crèches

Definition of Crèche according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: a representation of the Nativity scene.

Last December I read an article about a church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that permanently displays one woman’s collection of 1,000 crèches. It immediately piqued my interest and I told my friend about it. We decided right then that we would meet in Oshkosh for our next annual get-away.

This was a beautiful hand-painted porcelain crèche from Ireland.

We were not disappointed. The Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church indeed was open and welcoming. The church office administrator brought us downstairs and unlocked the door to three rooms for us to peruse 1,000 chèches from around the world. She turned on the lights, and turned on Christmas music to set the mood, then left us alone to take it all in.

Norway

Mildred Turner started collecting nativities in 1988 to help her overcome some set backs in her life. We wanted to know more about her but couldn’t find much information. Was she married? If so, what did her husband think of all these crèches? Where did she find room to display them as she was collecting them?

Photo of Mildred Turner.

Sizes ranged from a miniature crèche, about the size of the tip of my index finger, to large public outdoor display pieces. There were crèches made from just about any art medium you can think of…colored crystal bells, Lladró’s fine porcelain, metals, stone, pottery, shells, clay, wood, fabric, ivory, yarn…the list goes on. We didn’t know what to expect but this was a wonderful display of quality crèches. Even the two crèches made of Popsicle sticks were well done.

Popsicle sticks and cloths pins and felt. This could possibly be a future project for grandchildren…

Although there were many unique crèches I think the story behind the wood-carved crèche deserves extra attention. German prisoners of war carved it during WW II. They were housed at Green Lake, about 30 miles from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Several of the men whittled this set during their free time. It is not known why this nativity set was left behind when the prisoners were transferred to another camp a few months later. It’s wonderful that this nativity scene is a part of this collection.

Part 1 of the German Prisoner’s wood-carving.
Part 2 of the German prisoner’s wood carving.

All the crèches were cataloged and we could look up individual pieces if we wanted to, but that felt overwhelming. Thankfully a lot of the crèches were labeled as to where they were from and/or the medium, although I didn’t capture the info in my photos. We spent a couple hours enjoying all the pieces, pointing out the unusual, taking pictures of our favorites.

Made from birch bark.
The stars lit up on this ceramic crèche light.

 

This was our first morning in Oshkosh. Our trip was off to a good start.

 

Additional photos:

Bright colored metallic.
Recycled Glass.
Interesting life-size mannequins.
Metal sculpture.
A Franklin Mint piece.
Made of Ivory, from India.
A unique porcelain music box nativity, that plays “O, Little Town of Bethlehem” apparently Mildred Turner’s favorite.
Counted Cross-stitch. This piece has the date 1988, the year Mildred Turner started her collection.