We have been making Little Blue Santas as fast as these 12 skilled hands are able. We are incredibly gratified by the response to this little guy. The history and courage of the people who come to this country unfamiliar with the language and the culture continues to amaze me.
We have heard from people who live all over this wonderful planet. The Blue Santa’s story has appeared in newspapers in many cities; his story was told on NPR’s WKSU 89.7FM.
To thank you for sharing this process with us, we will be giving away one Little Blue Santa to one reader; leave a comment in the comment section of this post and I will draw one name from a hat (a blue Santa hat) on Christmas Eve, and another on New Year’s Day.
We wish you happy, healthy, peaceful and loving days.
I love everything about him: his history, his quiet and gentle nature and how he has touched so many people. I love making the Little Blue Santa. I love casting him, and removing him from the molds. I love cleaning him so he is ready for our daughter to glaze. I love seeing the Santas lined up ready for each step in the process.
I love talking to people who have connected to him and his story. We have heard from people whose relatives worked at the American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company. We have heard from people of German ancestry who have shared more history and their traditions. People have shared their holiday stories and warm memories.
I am deeply moved by the response to this little guy: to his soft, kind features; to the traditions that brought him to Akron,Ohio; to the hundreds of skilled hands that crafted him and other toys so that they were accessible to all children rather than just the wealthy. It is his story — HISTORY, that makes me smile. What is it about the Little Blue Santa that touches you?
Michael Cohill is one of the many people who are passionate about the history of the American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company. He is one of the people who have spent the past 20 years researching the history of Akron, Ohio’s toy industry.
The American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company was the first toy marble factory in the United States, and the first of 32 marble factories in the Greater Akron area. The factory made some of the world’s first mass produced toys; this is significant because it made toys available to all children, rather than just the wealthy. They manufactured 1,000,000 clay marbles each day.
However, on one unlucky day in 1904, thirteen years after it had been incorporated, The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company burnt to the ground. This unfortunate event appeared, to some young pilferers, to be a great day for marble collectors: the next morning, every little boy in Akron came down to scavenge and fill his pockets with marbles. This was no play ground, far from being a safe place for such innocent children to be hanging (and looting) about. The police were called in to keep these treasure hunters from unlawfully appropriating the marbles, and soon after, the city ordered the charred remains of the factory to be buried.
The land on which the Factory had stood became a successful department store and parking deck. The department store closed in the 1980′s, and the building was bought by a law firm. In the late 1990′s, the parking deck was demolished.
Removal of the debris exposed the remains of the old marble factory, and like a phoenix rising from the ashes, thousands of marbles and old toys reappeared in the dirty remains, waiting to rediscovered.
The Little Blue Santa was one of many toys that were made at the American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company. It may be one of the oldest known American made ceramic figurines of St. Nicholas, and dates to the mid-1890′s. Why is he blue? Santa Claus and modern day Christmas celebrations are of the German tradition. When Germans immigrated to the Akron area, they brought their rich culture and Christmas traditions with them: the decorated tree, stockings, gifts, and St. Nicholas, dressed in his blue, red, tan, green and white robes. Historically, St. Nicholas’ have been seen in brown, red, blue, green and tan robes.
The Little Blue Santa was brought to our studio. To make the Santa available to more people, Steve made a mold, and began casting reproductions, not unlike the toys made by the American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company. He developed the glaze, so that the modern day 2 1/4″ tall Little Blue Santa retained the character of the original.
The Little Blue Santa had been described as “a gentle and kind figure. His head was slightly tilted, and he was relaxed. He was the hope of Christmas.” I agreed. The Santa’s sweet and gentle nature resonated to a simpler time, one where shared experiences and memories were the spirit of the season. We were pleased to have been able to share it with you.
![[Bloglines]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[kirtsy]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/kirtsy.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Reddit]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://fromskilledhands.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
