The tube itself becomes the ornament." In Bohemia, since the 1830s, there had been a tradition of making glass costume jewelry. Glass beads and pearls were sewn into folk costumes and wedding gowns.

LEWISTON — For more than a decade starting in 1959, a Lewiston factory looked something like a Christmas workshop as it churned out millions of brightly colored ornaments. Paragon Glass Works ...

This Paragon Glass Works ornament was made in Lewiston a half century ago. (Sun Journal photo by Steve Collins) Glass Christmas ornaments produced by Paragon Glass Works in Lewiston in the 1960s.

It was once one of over 1,500 manufacturers in this part of Eastern Germany, blowing glass ornaments and painting them by hand. But today, most Christmas decorations are mass-produced in China.