It’s that time of year again!
Things are busy in Bala, making preparations for Christmas and especially getting the shop and the window decorated. This year we’re going for a window completely free of items for sale, and giving the display over to a collection of Nativity figures, snowfolk and trees.
It all started, as ever, with lots of logs….trunks and branch-wood, the biggest of which was a cracking piece of elm, about 30″ x 16″ which I needed help with to lift into place. Turning a piece this big is a slow job and it makes loads of shavings…sacks full of ’em!
Once the basic shape of the tree is cut, the branches are marked out and undercut to give the fir-tree profile, then the fun really begins. Each branch is carefully marked out for the location of up to 100 led lights, then each location of each light is drilled to a depth of 1″ (2.5cm). The tree is then stood upright and cut from top to bottom, with a freshly sharpened chain saw, making two flat-backed half trees, each of which is then hollowed out, removing the bulk of the core of the tree until I cut through to the bottom of each of the drilled holes.
A string of 100 LEDs is then fitted, one into each hole with a blob of hot melt glue to hold it in place.
….the effect is stunning!
So, the window is now ready to decorate…..a collection of trees, Nativity figures and snow-folk are ready
We think that the snow group is called “Snow Patrol”, although we believe that by the spring, they’ll be “Wet, wet, wet”!
It looks good in the day time, but at night, with shimmering blue lights overhead, it’s quite a sight!
Nadolig Llawen pawb – Merry Christmas everyone.
