The Making of our 2019 Specialty Ornament, "Our Community Rebuilds"

Making our yearly ornaments is a long and complex process requiring a lot more steps that you would think. This is why are constantly putting out calls for volunteers. We need volunteers helping us to make it a success!

Step 1: Find an artist to agree to paint an original design for you. Of course, we in Stratford are so fortunate to have Alese Taite on our team. She is our resident artist who has created our specialty heart for the past two seasons, and she approached us with the idea of painting a heart with the Shakespeare Theater on it shortly after the Shakespeare Theater burned to the ground in January. We agreed it would be a lovely tribute to the iconic Stratford building, and she soon began work on it.


Step 2: Alese googled some photos of the theater and began her pencil drawing of what would be this year's ornament. Of course all this work had to be done between her family life, work,  and personal commitments.  It is a difficult task to paint something so large on a heart that is only 4 inches big.

A work in progress.

The final product, and it was definitely worth the wait!

Step 3: Once I received the heart from Alese, the heart was photographed, editing software was used to remove the area where the hole was, and text was added to the bottom. The edited photo was sent off to our founder for approval and printing. Once approved, our founder Judy, got busy creating the card that will be packaged with each of the hearts. 

Step 4:  We put out a call for volunteers to come to Sterling House to paint the first 100 of our ceramic hearts blue. We decided for the first time to paint our hearts something other than our traditional white. With the sky in this ornament being such a lovely shade of blue, we decided to try to match it with a light blue, and we are very pleased with the results. 

Of course you already know that each of these clay hearts was made by hand by volunteers here at Sterling House in Stratford and fired at the Senior Center in Shelton. 

Step 5: Once the copies arrived, they had to be carefully cut out. 

An additional trimming is necessary on the paper hearts so they fit properly on each heart. 

Step 6: The paper hearts are then mod podged onto the hearts, making sure there are no air bubbles and the edges are secure.

The center hole has to carefully be punched through.

A wallpaper roller is used to insure the paper sticks to the heart and decreases the likelihood of later air bubbles forming.

Our first 100 hearts are mod podged on... but we are only half way through the process.

Step 7: Glitter is added to the trees, shrubs, and rooftops. 

Step 8: This year we decided to add paint dots around the edges of the hearts instead of the puffy paint. 

Step 9: Once the paint is dry, the ornaments are mod podged on the front and sides; and the next day they are flipped over and mod podged on the back. 

Step 10: We also have hundreds of Hope charms that need to be put on split rings, which is a time consuming process that requires good close up eyesight. 

Step 11: (for those who haven't lost count)  Those Hope charms then need to be put on to ribbons, which of course needed to be previously cut to a specific length.

Step 12:The ribbons need to be tied on to each of the individual heart. 

Step 13: The hearts will then need to be put into a bubble wrap bag, and then placed with the HoH Teamwork and Artist cards into a white organza bag for sale on our web site and a few locations around Stratford for $15.

So now you can see why we need so many volunteers in order for this project to be completed. Without you, we can not make this dream come true.