Santa Collection

STRIDING SANTA GERMAN PEWTER

Santa Claus is well known and well loved by children and the young at heart. We now have a new category on our website called the Santa Collection. Check it for all kinds of unusual Santas. Some are German, some are southwest, some are wooden, some are hand woven, some are painted pewter, and some are pueblo pottery.

SANTA CHILES BY MELISSA WEBER

Our beaded Santas can be worn as jewelry. Santa Chiles can hang on your tree. Susan’s daughter, Melissa, made both the jewelry and the chiles.

Santa collectors now have a place to search for something new for Christmas!

Lullaby and Goodnight in a Walnut Shell

WALNUT SHELL CRADLE WHITE

During my high school years, I lived in Germany. I have unforgettable memories of those magical times. Years later, my mother made a little ornament of a baby inside a walnut shell cradle, which was inspired by a German one. But my mother’s ornament lacked a baby’s head. I made a tiny baby head of salt dough, painted the little eyes and mouth, and glued it inside. My daughter, Melissa, was inspired to copy this ornament for my shop to sell, but she has no sewing machine. My sister, Sylvia, sewed the fabric for her, and Melissa assembled the real walnut shell (it’s not easy to crack a walnut shell perfectly), the cotton fabric, the wire frame for the cradle’s curtain, and the tiny hand painted baby head I made.

WALNUT SHELL CRADLE

This unique ornament is now available on my website, the product of four members of my family and three generations, my mother, my sister, my daughter and myself.

If you are in Santa Fe, please stop by my shop and say hello and see all the new items that have arrived.

Your friend in Santa Fe,
Susan Weber

Jemez Pottery Craft by Maxine Toya

Maxine Toya Jemez Pottery Nativity

Maxine Toya is the talented daughter of Marie Romero. She began by helping her family with pottery chores. This is a familiar pattern among Pueblo families. She made her own pottery beginning in 1974. Maxine’s donkey in this nativity has a blanket painted with a fringe similar to the one made by her mother, Marie. Like her mother, Maxine is a prize-winning potter at Indian Market in Santa Fe. She sometimes combines her figures into groups. Her standing figures all have closed eyes. The carefully painted detail distinguishes this nativity, as well as the sweet little Pueblo drummer boy with his drumstick raised in the air. The angel’s wings have a lovely feather design. This was made in 2014 for Indian Market. Maxine has sold her work at Indian Market for forty years, presumably beginning in her own mother’s booth.

Click here to check Maxine Toya most recent nativity!

Maxine Toya pottery angel JemezMaxine recently brought us two angels in this style to sell separately. They have a bit of shine to their robes because the clay slip on their robes has mica in it. Their wings are beautifully painted with pueblo designs. Call us if you wish to know more:
(505) 983-2127.

Susan’s Easter Eggs 2018

Pysanky Easter Egg Demonstration

Easter is now on display here at the shop. It’s an egg collector’s dream. Eggs are really fun to collect, I assure you. My own collection brings me great pleasure and I hope to write a book about decorated eggs some day.

Easter decorate eggs lovers

Susan’s Easter Shop offers decorated eggshells from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Canada and New Mexico. Ukrainian Easter eggs are called pysanky. Shirley Buchy is a talented maker of pysanka in Canada. Her work is the finest I have seen, but she is now retired because her eyesight is no longer good enough. I have three eggs by Shirley Buchy – featured in the picture at the top. The goose egg is $195 and each chicken egg is $75. I will never have this quality again, so here is a unique opportunity for collectors. Please call if you want one: (505) 983 2127.

Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Egg DemonstrationThere will be a
Free Demonstration
of how to make pysanky on
Saturday, March 10th
from 1:00 to 4:00 pm
in the Exchange Room at La Fonda.

The technique is over two thousand years old. It involves pure beeswax, a writing tool called a kistka, jars of brilliant dyes, uncooked eggs, time, skill, and patience. It’s fascinating to watch. Susan Summers will be there. She sometimes uses southwest designs on her eggs. Melissa Lewis will demonstrate the less challenging “drop pull” technique.

Supplies to make pysanky can be found here!

Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve!

Billie Beads Heart Pins

January is almost over. It is time to think of Valentine’s Day, a chance to show your affection to friends and family. It’s only two weeks away, so please check our Valentines for new ways to assure and reassure others of your feelings.

Happy Valentine’s Day… from Susan’s Christmas Shop!

PS: the beautiful pins in the photo are fashioned out of polymer clay and have crystals set into them. They are made by New York artist Billie Beads.

The Church of the Holy Faith Glass Ornament

CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAITH GLASS ORNAMENT

Our newest glass ornament for 2017!

The Church of the Holy Faith on East Palace Avenue is the oldest Episcopal Church in New Mexico. It is known for its beautiful nineteenth century leaded glass windows in the sanctuary. The most gorgeous window of the church is the Good Shepherd window. Originally this window was above the altar and the church was called The Church of the Good Shepherd. Later, the church was enlarged by Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem. The window was moved to one side and church became The Church of the Holy Faith, the translation of Santa Fe in English.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAITH GLASS ORNAMENT
The Church of the Holy Faith Glass Ornament, back.

This glass replica of The Church of The Holy Faith was created in Poland. A clay model was sculpted to create a mold. The mold was used to blow a glass ornament with the breath of a skilled glass blower. The resulting clear glass shape was silvered inside with a liquid silver. Artists painted the outside of the ornament. Finally, a cap was inserted. It takes almost a week to make one, every step by hand. Ten percent of the sales price will de donated to The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe.

You can order your Holy Faith glass ornament at this link.

Navajo Fabric Ornaments and Nativities by Sylvia Begaye

Sylvia Wreath Navajo Nativity

Sylvia Begaye is a talented Navajo artist from Fort Defiance, Arizona. She makes small fabric doll ornaments that represent the Navajo styles of dress, hair, and jewelry. Sometimes wooden cradleboards hold their babies. The ones with cradleboards are called “Madonna and Child“. Those with gray hair are called “Grandmothers“.

Sylvia Begaye Madonna and Grandma

Sylvia’s faces always look like Navajo faces. Her delicate piped-on jewelry looks like the real silver and turquoise jewelry the Navajo jewelers make to sell and wear themselves. These ornaments have been sold for many years at Susan’s Christmas Shop, as well as Sylvia’s wreaths, velvet angels, and Navajo-style Santa ornaments.

Check all Sylvia Begaye’s works here!

Mary Ray Cate’s Southwest Advent Calendars

Native America Advent Calendar

Mary Ray Cate is a talented Santa Fe artist who creates southwest advent calendars for Susan’s Christmas Shop. Each advent calendar has a different theme, and Mary Ray paints the cover painting and the twenty-four scenes which are revealed when the doors are opened. The day to begin opening doors is December 1st. Each calendar celebrates and teaches about the culture of The Land of Enchantment, such as a New Mexico pueblo, a Spanish village on the High Road to Taos, or the Santa Fe Trail.

This year, 2017, the new calendar has a scene inside an adobe house decorated for Christmas. Grandfather is playing his guitar for the children to dance. One of the doors opens to reveal a drawing of Susan Weber’s biscochitos, the state cookie.

Rhyme Advent Calendar

Susan like to form hers by hand. Occasionally Susan has a tin of these pretty biscochitos in the shop to offer to customers. The recipe is in Susan’s first book, Christmas in Santa Fe.

Biscochitos

To see all Mary Ray Cate’s advent calendars click here!