Buying clip-on bird ornaments at The Christmas Shop
A clip-on bird ornament fastens straight onto the branch with a small metal clip rather than hanging from a loop. The bird sits upright among the needles and its tail falls freely behind it. There are more than thirty in the collection, from a great tit to a hummingbird.
Most of them are glass, mouth-blown and hand-painted, and the detail shows: an eye drawn with the tip of a brush, glitter along one wing, a beak in a contrasting colour. They sit beside the rest of the glass Christmas ornaments in our shop in the centre of Delft, where you can hold two of the same model side by side and see how different they are.
Glass birds for the Christmas tree
The tail is what sets a good glass bird apart. Many bird ornaments are finished with real feathers; these have tails of spun glass, hundreds of hair-fine glass threads gathered into a full fan. It looks authentic, it catches the light in a way feathers never do, and you can hang it without a second thought.
Clip-on birds in white, red, blue and gold
Colour decides how much a bird stands out. White and champagne almost disappear into a snowy tree and keep things quiet, while red, blue and gold read clearly against dark green branches. The tree is not the only option either: a wreath, a jug of Christmas branches or a group of clip-on flowers works just as well.
Bird ornaments by Inge Glas and Goodwill
Inge Glas Manufaktor accounts for most of this collection, blown and painted in its own workshop in Bavaria. There is a separate selection of Inge Glas clip-on birds as well. Goodwill supplies the more flamboyant pieces, the hummingbird among them. If you would rather have a round shape, the bird also comes painted onto a bauble.
