Ceramic Christmas Decorations & Ornaments

Ceramic Christmas decorations, glazed by hand

Choosing ceramic Christmas decorations

Ceramic Christmas decorations come in two kinds, and the choice between them comes down to where each piece will be seen. The hanging pieces are ceramic Christmas tree decorations: small stoneware stars, angels, bells and wrapped presents, each threaded on a fine velvet ribbon in a neutral grey. At a few centimetres tall, they are made to be discovered among the branches rather than to fill them, so they work best dotted through a tree that already carries its baubles, catching the eye as someone looks closer.

The standing pieces are made for flat surfaces: a mantelpiece, a deep windowsill, the length of a sideboard. There are angels in fluted gowns, in two heights, and little ceramic houses that hold a tealight behind walls cut through with windows and stars. Lit, they scatter small points of light onto the wall behind. Unlit, they still read as a quiet street of houses through the day.

What ties the two kinds together is colour. Almost everything here sits in white and off-white, softened by speckling on the stoneware and by weathered edges on the glossier pieces. That restraint is what lets ceramic Christmas ornaments work as easily beside traditional reds and greens as in a pared-back scheme. Start with one kind and add the other over time, and the tree and the room will read as one idea rather than two.

Glazed by hand: how our ceramic Christmas ornaments are made

With a ceramic ornament, the glaze decides almost everything about how it looks, and nearly every piece here is glazed by hand. Two methods are used, and they give quite different surfaces.

The hanging decorations are made from stoneware, a clay fired at a high temperature until it is dense and hard, which is what lets it hold a crisp outline at such a small scale. The glaze is applied by hand and carries a natural speckle, so the surface sits closer to a piece of studio pottery than to a moulded ornament.

Most of the standing pieces are dipped into their glaze by hand instead. Dipping leaves a glossy coat that is never perfectly even, and the finish is then gently weathered, so colour shifts slightly from one piece to the next and the edges look softened rather than fresh from the kiln. Two angels bought together will not be identical, and that is intended.

A fired glaze is fused to the clay beneath it rather than sitting on top as paint does, so it will not flake away with handling. Each hanging piece arrives wrapped in tissue paper inside a recyclable card box.

Ceramic Christmas decorations FAQ's

The hanging decorations are small, most of them between 5cm and 7cm tall, which suits a tree that is already dressed. The standing pieces are larger and more varied: a low candle holder a few centimetres high, tealight houses from roughly 8cm to 15cm, and angels between 12cm and 18cm tall. That range is useful when grouping them. On a mantelpiece or a sideboard, set the tallest angel or house off-centre and step the smaller pieces down from it, so the eye travels along the arrangement rather than stopping in the middle. Exact dimensions for every piece are listed on its product page, since they vary slightly from one design to the next.

No. Each of our ceramic hanging decorations weighs between 20g and 40g, which an ordinary branch on a real or artificial tree will carry without dipping. They do have more heft in the hand than felt, so hang them a little way in from the tip of the branch, where it is firm, rather than right at the end where it bends. The fine velvet ribbon ties securely around a branch and looks better doing so than a metal hook would. Stoneware can chip or break if it falls onto a hard floor, so in a busy room, keep it off the lowest branches and out of reach of a passing knee or a curious pet.

Yes, that is what they are made for. Each of our ceramic houses has an opening at the back for a standard tealight, 37mm across and 15mm deep, and the light shows through the windows and stars cut into the walls. The ceramic becomes hot while the tealight is burning, so wait until it has cooled completely before moving the house or changing the candle. Keep lit houses clear of anything that could catch, which means off the tree and away from garlands, dried foliage and ribbon on a dressed mantelpiece. Unlit, they work just as well as ornaments on a windowsill or a shelf through the day.

Wash the standing pieces by hand with soap and water, which lifts both dust and any wax left behind by a tealight, then dry them thoroughly before they go back on display. Avoid harsh chemical cleaners, which can damage the glaze, and let a ceramic house cool completely and take out the spent tealight before washing it. The hanging decorations need less. Their care instructions are simply to handle them gently, so keep them away from water, which would soak the velvet ribbon, and lift off any dust with a soft, dry cloth. Treated this way, the glaze on both kinds looks the same at the end of the season as it did when the box was first opened.

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Ceramic Christmas decorations

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Ceramic Christmas decorations, glazed by hand

Choosing ceramic Christmas decorations

Glazed by hand: how our ceramic Christmas ornaments are made

Ceramic Christmas decorations FAQ's

What size are Neptune's ceramic Christmas decorations?

Are ceramic Christmas tree decorations too heavy for the tree?

Can you put a candle in a ceramic Christmas house?

How do you clean ceramic Christmas decorations?

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