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Restoring Cardboard Christmas Houses

This page was started to provide links to information about restoring putz houses.  Here are the articles we are aware of so far. 

• Repair and Restoration - "Papa" Ted Althof has published Tom Hull's tips for restoring damaged antique putz houses.
• More Restoration Tips - Tom’s followup comments on his previous article
• Glues to Use - Ted Althof’s recommended glues for repairing damaged putz houses.
• Making "Flocked" Windows - Tom Hull's method for making "fuzzy" windowframes on celophane, with additional tips by author and putz house collector Antoinette Stockenberg.
• Repairing or Replacing Trees - Tom Huff's article about the "lufa" trees that were common on pre-war glitterhouses, and can be repaired or else replaced by new lufa carefully cut, soaked with dark green acrylic paint, and allowed to dry before gluing and applying white paint for "snow."
• Reproduction Parts - Ted offers authentic reproductions of just about every door and window that were used in glitterhouses over a 35-year period. These include celophane and paper "see-through" windows, as well as "stick-on" windows. If you don't know what sizes you need, you can order a template or sample pack. The page includes several photos showing how the replacement parts bring otherwise solid vintage glitterhouses "back to life."
• Straightening Out a Crushed Base - Another Tom Hull article on Papa Ted’s web page.
• Building from Scratch - This Tom Hull article started out to be about rebuilding missing or damaged pieces and wound up being about building a new putz, but it has some good ideas for restoration, too.