Helpful Hints for Creche Collectors

1. Store your crèches in plastic milk crate containers. These are easy to transport and you will be amazed at how many crates you can stack in a small space. For added efficiency, use a laundry tag to mark the crate identifying the contents – for example “P” to indicate the crèches in the crate are from Peru or Poland, or whatever your own system dictates.
2. Line the bottom and sides of the storage crate with wads of tissue paper to absorb shock - even better, use bubble wrap. Always leave plenty of extra room in your storage crate. Don’t over pack. “Plastic peanuts” are troublesome. You can make them less “clinging” by first putting them in a paper bag and spraying them with a laundry product intended to remove static from clothes. You may wish to check with a shipping company for the latest in packing materials. Such companies will often sell you a supply of materials for home use.
3. Wrap each crèche figure individually before storing. Use various sizes of tissue paper or bubble wrap you have cut yourself, or better still, use bubble wrap bags.
4. Dust your crèche figures with an old-fashioned men’s shaving brush. For those hard to reach areas, use a spray can of “Enviro-Duster”, “Office Duster 3” or similar product for spray dusting auto, home, and office. You can usually find it in a computer or business equipment store.
5. Worried about guests accidentally knocking over and breaking one of your crèche figures? Affix the figures to the shelf by using the clear gel used by museums.
6. Print up a simple “Guide” briefly describing your crèches and give it to your guests. You could also give guests a handout of “Frequently asked Questions” such as “How many crèches do you have?” Where do you store all these?” “How long did it take you to set this up?” etc.
7. When you are setting up your crèches, designate a counter or table as a “crèche hospital” and repair broken pieces immediately. This will keep the broken pieces from becoming lost. Use good quality glue and avoid a “hot gun”, as this does not give a clean-edged mend. You may want to check with a conservator to do the repair work, even if the broken piece has only sentimental value, it may be well with the cost of professional repair.
8. Keep an eye out all year for materials that might be used in the display of your crèches – textiles, accessories, floral pieces, etc. Shop after Christmas – you will be amazed at the markdowns.
9. Have an Epiphany dinner and feature all the Magi figures from your sets.
10. Create personalized note paper and Christmas cards featuring a photograph of one of the crèches from your collection.
11. To highlight a favorite crèche, use a clip-on bed lamp or a swing-arm architect’s lamp. Good: Blue colored incandescent bulbs will give a nighttime effect. Better: Full spectrum incandescent bulbs give a more natural light. Best: Halogen bulbs. Halogen lights do have the drawback of fading fabrics, so avoid them if textiles are involved.
12. Need a desert setting for your crèche? Use a bag of sanitized white sand intended for use in a child’s sandbox. The product is readily available during the summer months wherever children’s toys are sold. For a more textured look, use a chunkier type of aquarium gravel or decorative polished stones.
13. Some people like to use moss, pinecones and driftwood in their crèche display. Preserved sheet moss is available at a florist’s supply store.
14. Need mountains for your crèche setting? Randomly and roughly brush ordinary craft paper with earth-toned tempura paint, crinkle it up, and staple it to your cardboard box “mountains”. Save the paper afterwards - the older and more distressed it becomes the better. Tempura cleans up easily with water.
15. Simply visiting the domestic department in an off-price store can provide “rocks” for your crèche. Buy a piece of foam used in making pillows. Tear it into chunks of varying sizes. Spray paint the chunks of foam with “stone fleck” type paint available at most home centers. Voila!
16. Purchasing a package or two of iridescent plastic wrap “icicles” can create “waterfalls”. Instead of cutting them, leave them intact and simply attach the whole thing to your background “mountain”.
17. Instead of using glass mirrors for lakes and ponds, use Plexi-glass cut in random shapes. Back the Plexi with wrinkled blue foil for a wave effect. The plastic product is much safer to use than glass mirrors. You can even walk on “water”, should you need to!
18. If your crèche has a living water feature and you plan to display it in an unheated area, use winter windshield washer fluid instead of water. If you buy the blue kind, it looks good even indoors, but watch out for the safety of your pets and small children.
19. Want a tableau with shepherds around a campfire? Use a single chandelier flicker bulb camouflaged by a pile of twigs. For a smoke effect, use ordinary cotton batting fluffed up and shaped.
20. For a “starry night” sky effect, suspend the grid type miniature lights behind a scrim – a piece of dark blue or black opaque textile.
21. You can create your own palm trees for your crèche setting. Use lengths of bamboo for the trunk. Attached preserved evergreens to the top. (Glycerinated cedar works well.) Secure to a floral foam base. Camouflage the base with moss or sand.
22. Do your smaller crèches take up too much table space? Solve the problem by displaying them vertically, each in its own space. Use floor-standing cases designed to store videos. One with six moveable shelves is available for as little as $10.
23. One creative collector, worried about the fragile pieces and the possibility of moisture damage, solved both problems by wrapping and storing manger figures in Pampers!