Christmas Tree Bulbs

     Everybody has a different name for the Decorative Plastic Ceramic Christmas Tree Ornaments. Some people call them Plastic Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs, Replacement Bulbs for Ceramic Christmas Trees, Replacement Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs or Plastic Bulbs for Ceramic Christmas Trees. Others will refer to the Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulb as a Ceramic Christmas Tree Plastic Ornament. A few people refer to them as decorative ceramic tree ornaments or twist ornaments and then there is the group of people that use the phrase "those plastic bulb things you put in Ceramic Christmas Trees". What ever you call them, Dogwood Ceramic Supply has the largest selection of Plastic Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs in stock every day of the year and always at a low price.

And the Plastic Stars for topping the Ceramic Christmas Tree are also stocked !

    The Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs and Stars are transparent and may be illuminated to achieve a gentle glow by using the electrical Christmas Tree Light Kit sold by Dogwood Ceramic Supply.

Small Order Shipping Information

Twist Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs

     The most popular style of the Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulb is the Twist Christmas Tree Bulb. Twist bulbs come in 3 sizes with the Medium Twist Bulb being the most common size used.

Medium Twist Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs

     Each package of Medium Twist Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs contains 144 bulbs which is enough bulbs to decorate at least 1 traditional 12-16" Ceramic Christmas Trees. The Assorted Medium Twist Bulb packages contain approximately equal quantities of Aqua, Blue, Crystal (Clear), Gold, Green and Red. Medium Twist Bulbs are also available in packages of a single color. The Medium Twist Twist Bulb is just slightly over 1" in total length (1 and 1/16" for those who must be exact),shaft diameter of 3/16" and head length nearly 11/16".

Small Twist Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs

     Each package of Small Twist Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs contains 144 bulbs. Just like the Medium Twists, the Assorted Small Twist Bulb packages contain approximately equal quantities of Aqua, Blue, Crystal (Clear), Gold, Green and Red. Small Twist Bulbs are also available in packages of a single color. The Small Twist Bulb is 7/8" in total length, head length of approximately 1/2"and shaft diameter of 1/8".

Also see Plastic Stars for the important Plastic Christmas Tree Star

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Other Styles of Christmas Tree Bulbs

Large Pin Lights Assorted, Package of 144, $4.00 per bag. (assorted bags contain A,B,C,G,Gr,O,Pn,P,R) Size 1/4" diameter, 1" total length.

Large Pin Lights Assorted, Package of 500, $6.00 per bag. (assorted bags contain A,B,C,G,Gr,O,Pn,P,R) Also available in bags of solid colors of Aqua, Blue, Crystal, Gold, Green, Purple or Red. Size 1/4" diameter, 1" total length.

Medium Doves Package of 90, $4.00 per bag. Available in bags of solid colors of Gold, Green or Purple Size 1/2" width, 1" total length, Stem is 3/16" diameter.

(perfect for Mardi Gras Trees)

Medium Doves Assorted, Package of 144, $6.25 per bag. Size 1/2" width, 1" total length, Stem is 3/16" diameter.

Bow Lights Package of 80, $4.00 per bag. Available in bags of solid colors of Crystal, Gold, Green or Purple. Size 7/16" diameter, 1" total length, Stem is 3/16" diameter.

(perfect for Mardi Gras Trees)

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Ceramic Christmas Tree Stars

     Classic Christmas Tree Stars in wide choice of colors and 3 popular sizes. Christmas Tree Stars are typically chosen based upon the size of the tree with an oversized star (proportional to the tree) looking better than an undersized star. However, the stem size of the Christmas Tree Star is especially important as the Large Star has a stem size larger than the Medium Twist Ornament. Because of the stem size issue, the Medium Christmas Tree Star is the most popular size choice, with Red and Gold being the most popular colors and Crystal (clear) well behind in 3rd place.

     Please note, the Ceramic Christmas Tree must drilled with the hole in the top to accept the Ceramic Christmas Tree Star at the time of the manufacturing.  Retrofitting for a Ceramic Christmas Tree Star after the tree has been fired to maturity is just about impossible.

Medium Christmas Tree Star

     The Medium Plastic Christmas Tree Star is ideal for many medium to large Ceramic Christmas Trees.  2 ¾" in total length and just under 2" in width. Stem diameter is 3/16".

Sold individually for $1.25 per star

Available in Aqua, Blue, Crystal, Gold, Purple and Red.

Aqua

Also available in packages of 5 of one color for $5.00

Large Christmas Tree Star

    The Large Plastic Christmas Tree Star is nearly 4" in total length and just over 2 1/2" in width and should be used on the largest Ceramic Christmas Trees.  The critical Stem Diameter is 1/4".  Some slight size variation may occur between production batches and colors, but the stem diameter is always consistent in size.

Sold individually for $1.75 per star

Available in Crystal, Green, Purple and Red.

Also available in packages of 5 of one color for $7.50

Small Snowflake Christmas Tree Star

     The Small Snowflake Christmas Tree Star is just slightly less than 1 ¾" in total length.  Stem size is approximately ⅛" in diameter.

Sold individually for $0.50 per star

Available in Blue, Crystal (Clear), Gold, Purple and Red.

Also available in packages of 10 of one color for $4.00

Small Order Shipping Information

Christmas Tree Light Kits

Suggested Bulb, Star and Electrical Kits 

How to Glue your bulbs:

    Do NOT use any silicon or acrylic based glues (such as epoxy or super-glues) with the Plastic Christmas Tree Ornaments as the synthetic glues can figuratively eat the bulbs. A white school glue, such as Elmer's Glue-All (Elmer's Glue), is perfect for use with the Plastic Christmas Tree Ornaments. Elmer's Glue will not permanently glue the bulbs in place, thus preventing damage to the Ceramic Christmas Tree should the bulb be mishandled during packing. In addition, the use of the a white school glue would allow changing of the colored ornaments at a future date.

    Note: Do NOT glue the star into the top hole. Stars are easily broken during packing for storage and can the residual stem can be especially difficult to remove if glued in place.

    For Bisque Ceramic Christmas for the do-it-your-selfers please refer to Ceramic Christmas Trees.

    Special Note:    Dogwood Ceramic Supply also offers a number of (undecorated) different sized ceramic bases for a variety of Ceramic Christmas Trees.  We need to know the diameter of the hole at the bottom of your tree to determine the best base for your particular tree.  The Tree Base sold by Dogwood Ceramic Supply may not be an exact copy of the base originally used with your tree, but our bases will allow you to attach the Christmas Tree Electrical Kit which is necessary to illuminate the Ceramic Christmas Tree.  The ceramic Christmas Tree base is suitable for finishing with ceramic glazes (a product requiring a kiln capable of firing to 2000˚F), non-fired acrylics and/or decorative acrylics or simply covering with a decorative fabric (such as flannel or velvet) to simulate the drape or skirt on a traditional (full-sized) Christmas Tree.

Additional Ceramic Christmas Tree Information:

      We often hear from customers that they own an "Antique" Ceramic Christmas Tree.  In reality, dating the manufacturing date of Ceramic Christmas Tree is difficult at best, and even if a manufacturing date could be discerned, the date of manufacturing would add little to the value of the Ceramic Christmas Tree.  When the finished item bears an embossed date, the date typically indicates the copyright date of the original mold design.

    Take for example the classic Atlantic A-64 Ceramic Christmas Tree.  Atlantic copyrighted their unique tree design in 1958.  And for the next 40+ years Atlantic Molds sold 1000's upon 1000's of identical copies of their A-64 Ceramic Christmas Tree mold to ceramic studios across the United States.  It is conceivable that Atlantic sold 1000 copies of the A-64 in a single year.  The typical ceramic studio may have made dozens or even 100 Ceramic Christmas Trees from a single mold.  Your particular tree could have been made in 1958 or just last week if your local studio still has a good working copy of the mold.  And there is nothing to prevent your Aunt Mildred from inscribing an additional date in the Ceramic Christmas Tree.  There is no doubt that Ceramic Christmas Trees can have great sentimental value, but as Antiques the Ceramic Christmas Tree have little, if any value, even if they are truly antiques.

Additional Bulb Information:

    In the early days of hobby ceramics, every plastic Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulb was manufactured in the United States.  Millions upon millions of plastic bulbs were manufactured in the 60's, 70's and 80's from a number of manufacturers.  But starting in the early 90's we started seeing an influx of plastic bulbs imported from China.

     Dogwood Ceramic Supply has made a significant effort to avoid purchasing bulbs manufactured in China.  Mostly because, well to be blunt, the quality of the Chinese bulbs were not very good and have never improved over time.  Specifically the concentration and clarity of the color pigment is not as good as bulbs manufactured in the USA.  But the Chinese bulbs are cheaper.  A lot cheaper when buying in bulk.  Profit margins tends to drive interest and there are a number of importers who are selling bulbs manufactured in China to resellers for final sale to the public.  To complicate issues, there are a number of claims by the importers and resellers that their bulbs were manufactured in the USA, but the supporting US Customs documents and packaging will indicate otherwise.

     How can a consumer protect themselves from Chinese bulbs?  The absolute simplest test is to watch the product quantity of the Medium Twist Bulbs offered by the plastic bulb vendor.  We have yet to find a USA manufacturer packaging the Medium Twist Bulbs in any quantity other than 144.  Conversely, every package of 100 bulbs that we have purchased over the years has been ultimately traced back to Chinese sources.  Is the 100 versus 144 count a perfect identifier?  No, because there are a number of very small vendors who will repackage the 144 (or 100) count bags into bags of 93 or 104 (in hopes of making an extra penny or three) using the pretense that their Ceramic Christmas Trees require exactly 93 or 104 bulbs.

    Ignoring the Chinese versus USA arguments, there is a more practical reason to avoid the 100 count bulb packages.  The Medium Twist Bulb (the most popular bulb size) is used on a variety of Ceramic Christmas Trees, typically ranging from 12" to 16" in height.  Assuming 1 bulb per branch, these Ceramic Christmas Trees typically need between 77 and 110 bulbs per tree.  Oops.  Suddenly those 100 count bags are not a good deal if your tree has more than 100 holes, and more than 100 holes is surprisingly quite common.  Worse, the Ceramic Christmas Trees larger than 16" usually need well over 100 bulbs and it is not uncommon for such trees to need more than 200 bulbs if more than one bulb hole is drilled on each of the lower branches.

     From Dogwood Ceramic Supply's perspective it is better to buy and sell USA manufactured Plastic Bulbs..... good to support USA jobs, even better to sell a product appropriate to the needs of the consumer.

Additional Bulb Information, Part 2:

    Since the Mid 90's, Dogwood Ceramic Supply's USA based bulb manufacturer has been reducing, eliminating, discontinuing etc etc the selection of plastic Ceramic Christmas Tree Bulbs they manufacture.  It has been a long and slow process eliminating their excess inventory.  We have been assured that the Small and Medium Twist styles will be manufactured for some time to come.  But all other sizes and styles are not guaranteed to be available in the future.  Please keep this in mind as you plan your future purchases of bulbs other than the Small and Medium Twist.  Yes, we could switch to Chinese sources, but we fill it is more important to offer a limited selection of quality products versus offering the largest selection possible.

    Effective May 2010, the Medium Globes have been discontinued and are no longer in stock at Dogwood Ceramic Supply.  The Medium Globes, besides being popular for Ceramic Christmas Trees, were also used for a number of board games such as variations on classic games such as Chinese Checkers, that use the Medium Globes or other ornaments as game pieces.  Dogwood Ceramic Supply suggests the Medium Twist as the only alternative to the now discontinued Medium Globes.

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