Christmas decorating guide using a bisque Christmas Village, unfinished ceramic houses, figures and animals you paint yourself.
Christmas is a time to be creative, and there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own decorations.
A very popular idea is to take an unpainted bisque Christmas Village, unfinished ceramic figurines and accessories, and paint them yourself, then arrange your hand painted ceramics to create a magical Christmas Village display.
There’s a lovely range of unfinished ceramic Christmas Village houses, buildings and figurines to choose from, which you can order online.
Creating a Christmas display using hand painted ceramic Christmas Villages.
Set your display platforms.
Your ceramic Christmas Village buildings will look more interesting if you arrange them on a variety of levels. You can make platforms from cut styrofoam, or alternatively buy Christmas Village display platforms from Department 56 or Lemax.
You could also add a day or nighttime sky backdrop, which is easy to make using cardboard and spray paint. Add sparkling silver stars for a wintry nighttime sky.
Arrange your ceramic Christmas Village buildings.
You could use a single village, or a collection of two or three. Aim for a complementary set of buildings, for example a church, a cabin or brick house, and perhaps a cobblestone bridge.
Arrange the various village buildings in a visually interesting way by placing them at different angles, and on a variety of different levels.
Add figures and accessories.
You may wish to add trees, snowmen, a Santa Claus, or people doing Christmassy things, to give your Christmas Village display an extra touch of warmth and character. Look for accessories and figurines which are on the same scale as your Christmas Village buildings.
Decorate.
Add the finishing touches with pretty Christmas decorations, tree trimmings, strings of Christmas lights, and perhaps some acrylic ice and snow for a real wintry effect.
For more great details on decorating Christmas Villages, please read this article on Holiday decorating using Department 56 North Pole Village.