Let's talk about cardboard Christmas houses and accessories

Visit our Contributors' Pages:
Visit Family Christmas Online Visit Howard Lamey's own web page, LittleGlitterHouses.com Click to Sign Up for Maria Cudequest's Collectibles Blog
Visit Family Christmas Online Click to visit Papa Ted's Place - the ultimate cardboard Christmas house resource. Click to return to the Old Christmas Tree Lights Table of Contents Page



Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
to apply for membership to this forum, please visit our Contact page.


Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
For permissions or questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact page.
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 3:16 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:39 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:27 pm
Posts: 1678
A reader e-mailed me and asked how to hide the wires between the houses. I gave her one way to do it, but it occurred to me that it would be nice to know how you all light your houses, and how you hide your wiring.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:16 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:32 pm
Posts: 2336
My friend Judi hides the wires under mounds of fluffy cotton snow:


Attachments:
howjudihideswires.jpg
howjudihideswires.jpg [ 252.02 KiB | Viewed 21348 times ]
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:20 am 
Offline

Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:32 pm
Posts: 2336
While my friend Judi uses mounds of fluffy cotton snow, see the picture above, I hide mine under tinsel Christmas tree garland (the really fluffy kind). To keep it and the wires in place, I use French bobby pins to lock them into place in the styrofoam bases I use.


Attachments:
how i hide the wires.jpg
how i hide the wires.jpg [ 266.74 KiB | Viewed 21348 times ]
Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:50 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:11 am
Posts: 304
I use what's called Christmas drape, ie; a thin cotton-like batting, that I tear apart and lay over the wires. I also use it to cover up the light opening in the back of the house. I buy it on amazon.com.

Like the tinsel garland idea, Maria!


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:15 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:05 am
Posts: 447
This must have been a consideration way back when with Series C6 strings. I have a very old one that has white woven silk over the insulation. She early on (like in the era of early printies) had a Christmas village she displayed and I have the only survior of hers AND the series string. This was made this way to hide more easily in the cotton. Tom


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:34 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:35 pm
Posts: 1093
I use a white heavy weight felt type batting, doubled. I then run the lights under the batting cut small slit type holes and pull the bulbs up through the holes right in back of the houses. For the bulbs that run in-between the houses I remove. I use battery operated LED light bulbs 20 per string I run the wires for the street lanterns the same way. It takes a bit of time but the results have worked out well.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:54 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:27 pm
Posts: 1678
The reader who started this discussion sent me this thank-you for the kind folks who answered her question:

Nice to receive so many responses. Thanks to everyone who responded with their own great ideas.

This Christmas, I also used the light weight cotton snow to cover the wires, but it is so light that it moves around a lot. Plus, the entire village looked like it had been buried under six feet of snow (a little too close to reality for me). I also used bobby pins to anchor the wires in place.

I would like to make my layout permanent (minus the building, trees, etc.) so I don't have to redo it each year. I have visions of the base leaning against my basement wall with the bulbs and wires securely in place (covered with an old sheet for dust) so that all I have to do is bring the base out before Christmas and place the components on it. I think the snow blanket folded in half with the wires running in between the layers sounds like a good idea.

Again, thanks Paul for providing this great opportunity to exchange ideas and to those who responded to my question.

Alvera


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:03 pm 
Offline

Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:32 pm
Posts: 2336
You can weigh down the cotton blanket--which I do use sparingly here and there in odd little places, with glass globs that you get in the 99 cents store. You can see some of them which I also use for decorative purposes and to pick up light and add sparkle scattered across my putz scene above.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:12 pm 
Offline

Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:59 pm
Posts: 128
Location: Long Beach, CA
I used a length of thinish white velour, put it over the styrofoam pieces I used to raise the houses to the right level, cut slits (as Lynn did, I think) and poked the lights through the slits and into the light holes of the houses. Used two regular Christmas light bulbs per house. I had tried the battery-operated LED lights but they are pretty directional, and didn't give the cheerful effect I wanted. So we took strands of 20 regular bulbs, rewired them with shrink wrap crimp connectors so there were 10 pairs that were about 4 inches apart with about 14 inches between the pairs to accommodate the house spacing.
I had to leave a blank space on the velour because my white cat decided he wanted to camouflage himself among the houses. Fortunately, he was happy using the same space each time.
I've also been thinking about Alvera's idea of a reusable base, covered with a dust sheet. This should be relatively easy, since my display area is 67" X 21", maximum (including cat). Would cover the underside with extra padding to avoid scratching the furniture it's on.
Looking forward to hearing other people's ideas.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Lighting Putz Houses
PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:53 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:27 pm
Posts: 1678
Actually the resuable base note was from Alvera, I just posted it because she wasn't signed up yet. I edited your text accordingly - hope you don't mind.

Paul


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  




Click to see sturdy Lionel(r) trains that are perfect for your Christmas tree.



Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
to apply for membership to this forum, please visit our Contact page.


Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
For permissions or for questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact page.



Visit our affiliated sites:
- Christmas Memories and Collectibles -
Visit the FamilyChristmasOnline site. Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions. Visit Papa Ted Althof's extensive history and collection of putz houses, the largest and most complete such resource on the Internet.. Click to return to the Old Christmas Tree Lights Table of Contents Page Click to sign up for Maria Cudequest's craft and collectibles blog.
Click to visit Fred's Noel-Kat store.
- Family Activities and Crafts -
Click to see reviews of our favorite family-friendly Christmas movies. Free, Family-Friendly Christmas Stories Decorate your tree the old-fashioned way with these kid-friendly projects. Free plans and instructions for starting a hobby building vintage-style cardboard Christmas houses. Click to find free, family-friendly Christmas poems and - in some cases - their stories. Traditional Home-Made Ornaments
- Trains and Hobbies -
Visit Lionel Trains. Free building projects for your vintage railroad or Christmas village. Click to see Thomas Kinkaded-inspired Holiday Trains and Villages. Big Christmas Train Primer: Choosing and using model trains with holiday themes Building temporary and permanent railroads with big model trains Click to see HO scale trains with your favorite team's colors.
- Music -
Carols of many countries, including music, lyrics, and the story behind the songs Wax recordings from the early 1900s, mostly collected by George Nelson.  Download them all for a 'period' album.
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.
Heartland-inspired music, history, and acoustic instrument tips. Own a guitar, banjo, or mandolin?  Want to play an instrument?  Tips to save you money and time, and keep your instrument playable. Own a guitar, banjo, or mandolin?  Want to play an instrument?  Tips to save you money and time, and keep your instrument playable.



Click to trains that commemorate your team!

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group