DAR State Ornaments
Illinois DAR State Conference
Springfield, IL
April 26-29, 2012
Exhibit Hall, Springfield Hilton Hotel
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The Making of the USA Ornaments This past Christmas was the 70th Anniversary of Chrismas Around the World, a special exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It began in 1942 as a tribute in honor of the men and women fighting in WWII. For the past few years, the Chicago Chapter of the DAR has been given the privilege of decorating the USA Tree, one of about 50 countries represented. We decided to make Americana ornaments for the tree this year, celebrating the 50 states and Washington, DC. We also chose to honor veterans of various wars, and their names are on the stars which are attached. Mark “Clyde” Mlodock created molds, into which he poured liquid latex to make the forms. Coincidentally, Clyde’s father had created the dioramas at the Field Museum of Chicago over 60 years ago. The latex seams had to be sanded off with a dremel tool. Then the opening was cut with an exacto knife, and the insides sandblasted so they would take paint. Each ornament was painted inside and out with two coats of gesso (primer), two coats of paint, and finally two coats of varnish. Our members who were working on the ornaments tried to capture the spirit of each state. Each ornament contains the state flag, a colorized state quarter, and a rock, mineral or gem of that state. There is also a banner with the nickname of the state. Some purchased miniatures and some created their own details out of oven-baked clay. When the inside was finished, a thin plastic covering was placed over the opening, and trim was added to the outside to reflect the character of the state. (This is the text shown in
the middle box of the display)
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The 51 ornaments divided nicely into three groups:
- States West of the Mississippi River
- The Original 13 Colonies plus Washington DC
- States East of the Mississippi River
The middle box also contained the history of
these ornaments, plus three unused "blanks"
in progressive stages to show how
they were made and decorated
In the next photo, notice the reflection in the box
at the far left which seems to resemble our flag!
The following photo shows the custom-built
easels which held the new boxes
Before they were ready for this exhibition,
more work had to be done . . . . .
With positive comments from many of the visitors, the
display was a big success and everyone was pleased.
The final photo shows Kathy Cunningham,
who created and developed the idea,
and supervised the entire project.
To see a photo of the original display at the
Museum of Science and Industry,
plus close-up views of all 51 ornaments,
click here.