Tag Archives: decorations

Christmas Inspiration at Frøken Fin

Danes love Christmas. As November starts progressing you will start seeing small decorations popping up here and there in people’s homes. A lot of these decorations, especially decorations connected to the Advent wreath, often come decorated in items from nature, such as moss, branches and pine cones.

Making such items are not a tradition from where I come, not least because we don’t have forests from where to go and pick up most of the ‘nature’ elements used to decorate most of them. Since I moved to Denmark I have made one with Michael’s mother every year, but then I typically just feel overwhelmed in the process, not least because I don’t know the dos and don’ts that the Danes seem to know instinctively. Therefore, besides that once a year, I mainly admire them from afar.

Most Danes seem to learn how to do such items as kids by doing with their parents. However, there are always new things coming out, so through colleagues I have discovered ‘Christmas Inspiration’ evenings at one of Sonderborg’s florists/home decor stores: Frøken Fin. I went to the first day of inspiration evenings with my colleagues to check what this is all about.

The evening consisted of around 45 minutes of being shown different ways of combining different bases (glass, copper, zinc), nature objects (pine cones, moss, branches) and decorative items (lights, ribbons, candles) to make pretty objects to decorate your house with over the winter and Christmas period. Following the demonstration there was then glogg and biscuits and we could walk around the shop and buy stuff (if we wanted to).

Christmas in Sonderborg

I must admit that even though they must have kept it simple the basics were not covered (e.g. Where do you get the moss from? Candle safety? Keeping the arrangements looking fresh), but this was an inspiration evening after all not a course. Also, talking to my colleagues it seems like the answers to all these questions are instinctively known by them, so maybe I was the only one slightly lost (the event being in Danish probably didn’t help either).

Nevertheless, a very pleasant evening being exposed to a way of decorating your house that is quite Danish (at least from a Southern European point of view). If you are interested in joining there are more events coming up during November:

  • Monday 10. Nov at 18.00 and 20:00
  • Wednesday 12. Nov at 18.00 and 20:00
  • Thursday 13. Nov at 18.00 and 20:00

If you want to join just call the shop on 7442 2225 or visit the shop itself on Ringgade, The event is free and up to 20 individuals are allowed each time. It made for a very pleasant evenings, especially as there was no hard sell to buy items in the shop. So if that is something that worries you, don’t need to worry. But do take some money with you, as you will probably be inspired to buy something!

porcelain

Get creative at Sonderborghus

Sonderborghus is one of the main music venues in Sonderborg, hosting a variety of well-known and lesser known Danish and international acts. We have, in fact, already mentioned them on our 99 things to do list for both jazz and rock. However, Sonderborghus offers more than just music, as I came to discover on a ‘girls night out’ with colleagues recently.

What had been a hidden secret to me until very recently is the workshops in the basement of Sonderborghus. There you can get your hands dirty with some glass work (above), pottery or even multi-material creative projects. The amazing thing is that, besides the regular courses on offer, you can also just go down on your own and work at your own pace on your own projects, while getting access to the materials you need for a minor outlay, as well as cheerful guidance from the staff.

This being before Christmas the plan of action was to populate our Christmas tree by making porcelain decorations. This is the first time Michael and I will have a Christmas tree at home which means that I had loads of work to do. With the guidance of two of my colleagues, who had already been on courses there, it was more than easy to do. We could buy the porcelain clay there (50DKK/1kg: this covered all costs, including firing of the porcelain in the kiln, shown below), we had access to a variety of shapes for making decorations, and we also had access to all the tools we needed to make our decorations.

porcelain

In total I used around 500g of porcelain (25 DKK) and made around 50 different items for our Christmas tree, some of which you can see below. Needless to say, our Christmas tree is well populated now! It is good to note that the items are not typically fired on the same day, but we were asked to go pick them up around one week later. So do keep this in mind if you want the items for a specific event.

porcelain

Other than that, the workshops is open on Tuesday and Wednesday 10-22, Thursday 13-18 and Friday 10-15. Do confirm opening hours at the Sonderborghus website, since these may change, or other events may be going on. Other than that – go ahead and enjoy yourselves. Perfect for a family outing or evening out with friends.

Enjoy the Atmosphere at Krusmoelle

Once upon a time, farmers in the area were forced to make use of the services offered at Krusmoelle by the law of the land. Nowadays there is no such law, but judging by the amount of people there on a Sunday morning in mid-November, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference!

Krusmoelle, now owned by Nina and Henrik Loff, was once in the ownership of dukes in the region, and also the King! The mill, unfortunately, lost its function between the two world wars as farmers started to mill their own products. This lead to the situation we have today where the buildings are used by the owners for a variety of purposes.

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Every year over 30,000 guests visit the mill, either to browse through the lifestyle shop, eat in the cafe, or try their hands in the creative and craft workshops based in the buildings. A highlight in the event calendar since the very beginning 26 years ago has been the Christmas market in November and December. Loving Christmas and all that goes with it as I do, this was a perfect introduction to the mill!

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The Christmas market offers visitors an opportunity to buy a very wide selection of Christmas decorations and winter/related items. As expected, there are numerous angels, stars, nisser (elves) and (this being Denmark) candle-related items, as well as items such as house shoes and soft furnishings. A new highlight from this year is the ‘Culinary Christmas’ section of the exhibit where you can feast your eyes on as much Christmas related food as possible (as well as get a taste of a few selections).

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This was the perfect introduction to Christmas for me. I can see myself returning year after year even if only to take in the atmosphere and gaze on all the items I wish I could buy but know I could not feasibly fit into our apartment! You can visit every day from 10am to 6pm during the Christmas season.

Read more on their website.