Repairing Damaged Ornaments and Decorations

Probably one of the most depressing parts of Christmas is pulling out the Christmas tree ornaments and other decorations and finding your favorite one has become damaged or outright broken. Finding your treasured heirloom ornaments, decorations that your children made you, or even that embarrassingly kitschy ornament you always hid near the back of the tree (out of sight, out of mind) can often be a traumatic experience. Well, instead of throwing out your treasured ornaments and decorations, why not try repairing them?

Repairing damaged ornaments and decorations doesn't take a whole lot of effort and can actually be a fun activity, if you just know how. Simply follow these simple steps and you can extend the life of your most treasured Christmas decorations for years to come. Here's how.

Materials:

• Super glue
• Broken ornaments
• Egg crates
• Ornament hangers
• Paddle of #24 floral wire

Process:

1. Collect. Begin your repair efforts by collecting all the pieces to any and all broken ornaments. You want to be sure that you don't miss anything and if at all possible keep all your pieces in an egg crate. Such crates are perfect as they come with individualized little holders that you can place the pieces in, making it much easier to transport the damaged ornaments to where you are going to repair them.
2. Separate. After you have collected all the different pieces it is time to separate them according to the different ornaments. This whole process is similar to when you separate the different pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
3. Layout. Once you have all the pieces separated, begin laying out the individual pieces for one specific ornament, again similar to a jigsaw puzzle. In fact, if you can arrange all the pieces next to their corresponding pieces it is going to make it quite a bit easier when you are actually putting them together.
4. Put together. Begin putting everything together by picking up one piece and matching it to a corresponding piece—again like a jigsaw puzzle. Once you have the pieces matched up, apply a small amount of super glue, and allow time for drying before proceeding to the next piece. Continue doing this until you have repaired the ornament completely. Just don't forget to use an ornament hanger or #24 floral wire to help hang the ornament on the tree.

Finally, if you find yourself with an ornament that you cannot fix yourself, try taking it to a professional repair shop. There is nothing wrong with having a professional repair your favorite ornaments. In fact, professionals are often noted for the quality of their work as well as having some type of a guarantee. Chances are there is going to be only one drawback to having a professional conduct the repair effort, and that is the cost.