Ballerina Hippo Ornament

Get her here!

Fancy HippoMiss With Pink Scarf

* Measures 4 1/2″ x 3″ x 2-1/2″
* Crafted of glass
* Created by December Diamonds

If you really need another hippo ornament (hey, who doesn’t?) click here to make this yours.

Horace the Hippo Glass Christmas Ornament (This photograph is copyrighted by Hippo Mojo LLC, 2010, and may not be used elsewhere for any purpose)

About Tannenbaum Treaures

Since their founding in 1983, Tannenbaum Treasures has been exclusively in the business of importing the finest holiday decorations from Europe. Their products are hand-made in Germany and Poland. Tannenbaum Treasures has developed an extraordinary collection of exclusive new designs. Created by American artists, these designs are sold under the name Abigail’s Collection®. These designs are influenced by the finest in European tradition but are also distinctly American in their appeal. They represent a young, fresh approach to the noble tradition of hand painted glass ornaments. Crafted by the best Polish artisans, Abigail’s Collection® ornaments have met with critical approval and are fast becoming among the most popular ornaments among serious collectors.

Buy your own Horace the Hippo ornament here.

Beaded Hippopotamus Ornament

This special ornament is imported by WorldFinds, a fair trade company founded in 2000. Fair trade is an equitable, long-term relationship between trading partners, and a way to ensure low-income artisans are truly being helped out of poverty.

From the WorldFinds website:

Fair trade is a growing movement to help low-income artisans in developing countries move towards economic self-sufficiency. It promotes sustainability on all levels and creates opportunities to alleviate poverty. Artisans receive fair wages, education, financial and technical assistance, and have safe working conditions. Fair trade organizations like WorldFinds pre-pay 50% for their products upfront, and work closely with the artisans on design and quality. Fair trade is about respectful relationships and is having a positive impact on the lives of thousands of artisans. It is starting to make the world a better place. It is also a long-awaited alternative to traditional trade and a way to effect real social change!

WorldFinds ensures that we:

- pay a fair wage in the local context
- support safe, healthy & participatory workplaces
- provide 50% pre-payment for orders placed
- build long-term relationships
- provide ongoing education and training
- ensure environmental sustainability
- provide equal opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged
- respect cultural identity
- build long-term, direct relationships

There are 9 Principles of Fair Trade recently adopted by the Fair Trade Federation,
and soon there will be explicit practices on how those principles can be achieved.
All of this and a wealth of great information about fair trade can be found
at: www.fairtradefederation.org.

Buy yours here.

Hippo Holidays - Brown Hippo With Mistletoe

Is it a hippo or a reindeer? It’s hard to tell with our hippdeer, a slightly confused looking hippo with antlers.

Hippo Holidays - Pink Hippo With Antlers

Hippos like holidays too, and our purple hippo is no exception. He wears a red Santa hat with blue trim and he stares whimsically out of the card as if to ask what you plan to get him for Christmas.

Hippo Holidays - Purple Hippo With Santa Hat

Cards are made of heavyweight gloss cover stock with uncoated paper inside that you can write a special message on. They are folded to 5″ x 3.5″ and the inside reads, “Hippo Holidays.” Each card comes with a white 70 lb. envelope. These note cards are Hippo Mojo exclusives, designed by us and professionally printed on glossy cover stock and cost $2.95 each. Browse our selection.

Ballerina Hippo Ornament

The Ballerina Hippo Ornament measures about 4 1/2″ long and comes ready to hang with a gold cord.

Grab one here!

Flower Hippo Ornament

Copper Hippo Angel Ornament

Silver Hippo Angel Ornament

Mr. Happy Hippo Ornament

Our hippo ornaments make wonderful holiday gifts for friends, family, and coworkers, and can be stuffed into stockings or presented in a box or gift bag. Browse our selection of hippo ornaments here.

Read more about Pilgrim Imports here.

Singing & Dancing Christmas Hippo

The Singing & Dancing Christmas Hippo is back in stock and ready for purchase! This is a very popular holiday item that will be appreciated even by non-hippo lovers! This hippo girl wears a silly Santa suit and twirls around singing a clip from the song, “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.” If you aren’t familiar with that song (you’re kidding me, right?) just click on the song title to hear it. If you have any kids in your house you should totally buy this item for them – it’s a guaranteed hit!

Bert Anderson Hippo Ornament

We are so pleased to announce that we will now be carrying the hippo ornament from Bert Anderson’s collection of amazing sculptures. This cute hippo friend has dangly legs and a sweet, happy face and is a must have for any tree. Buy yours here.

While we will only be carrying the hippo ornaments (duh! this IS a hippo store!), Bert has a complete line of wonderful creations that you can see here.

And here’s some info on Bert from his website:

Bert Anderson has been sculpting ideas in clay since his school days. He’s worked with a variety of subject matter from old west figurines to whimsical gnomes. Although the overall look has been different with each project, the one thing that always seemed to show up in his work is humor. There have been obvious puns and gags as well as something simple like a subtle look that makes you smile – or laugh. Bert graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, not really knowing what he wanted to do. He had been sculpting pieces all this time for family and friends, but never considered that making figurines was a possible career move. After he had created a line of Christmas items, he heard about the process of resin casting. Once he found a method to reproduce his work, everything changed. He was able to produce a line of items of exceptional quality that could be enjoyed by everyone.

Before there can be a figurine or ornament, there must first be an idea. Bert gets his ideas from ‘all over’. Memories from childhood or a face in the crowd can spark an idea. “I never start with a finished image in mind,” Bert explains. “I like to let the clay have a say in what the final piece will look like. Sometimes the best ideas seem to jump out of the clay as I’m working. I’m always adding things and taking them away, trying different looks until I’m satisfied with the results. It’s my hope that this method of sculpting gives a feeling of spontaneity to the piece.”

Bert makes his original piece out of a polymer clay. When it is finished and fired, skilled artisans prepare a latex mold of the original that exacts every detail. Into this mold is poured a special resin mixture. After a curing period, the casting is removed from the mold. After all the seam lines have been cleaned, the piece is hand painted and antiqued. This antiquing brings out all of the detail while giving the piece an old-world look. Careful attention is paid during all phases of the production process so that each piece is true to the original. The final result is an exact copy of the original work that is ready for someone to enjoy.

“There are two aspects of this venture that make all the work worthwhile,” explains Bert. “The first is the thrill of seeing a personality emerge from a lump of clay. The second is that people enjoy my work enough that they take one of my pieces into their homes and make it a part of their lives. As an artist, that is the greatest compliment any could give me.”

]]> http://www.blog.hippomojo.com/bert-anderson-hippo-ornament/feed/ 1 http://www.blog.hippomojo.com/chocolate-hippos-for-christmas/ http://www.blog.hippomojo.com/chocolate-hippos-for-christmas/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:56:52 +0000 Hippo Honcho http://www.blog.hippomojo.com/?p=615 We’ve blogged about chocolate hippos before but here’s an offer for all you hippo enthusiasts who live in the states. Baker Candies of Ohio has partnered with David Spotts to create chocolate hippos for Christmas. They are seven ounces of pure milk chocolate in the form of a hippo. And the best part is that a portion of the proceeds go to charity: the Cleveland Food Bank Harvest for Hunger Campaign and the Kilimanjaro Climb for a Cure, a pediatric brain cancer and tumor program.

David saw his mother on an episode of Dr. Phil where she confessed her dislike of the Christmas hustle and bustle. (Well, who doesn’t?) Her disclosure shocked him. (Really?) David wanted to help his mother get through the horrible Christmas season where everyone is supposed to be filled with cheer but in reality we are all just walking around freaking out about spending all this money that we don’t have on useless presents that we don’t need. (Oh, wait a minute, that’s me.) He thought that if his mother had a project to work on, it would distract her enough so that she wouldn’t even notice that radio stations and stores start playing Christmas music in mid-November and set up holiday displays even before Halloween. (Is this even possible?) So he decided to use her LEAST favorite Christmas song, “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” and pair it up with chocolate and hippos to create a fundraising item just for the holidays. Thus, chocolate hippos were born.

Now, let me just say a few things here. First, what a son! I really appreciate his dedication to and concern for his mother. However, did he ever think that – just perhaps – choosing her LEAST favorite song might not be the best choice? That would kind of be like me choosing an Ozzy Osbourne song for my mother, along with, say, an aardvark, or maybe a sloth. Maybe he was really thinking of MY mother, whose absolute favorite song in the whole entire world is “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” and who can put away chocolate faster than a hippo can swivel his tail. (By the way, if you haven’t heard this song, check it out here.)

Anyway, kudos to David and his mother for rising above their anti-Christmas image and providing the world with more hippos. We here at Hippo Mojo have long known that’s what’s needed to make the world a better place. And if the hippos in question just happen to be chocolate? Well, okey dokey, so much the better! Now, I’m off to go buy myself some chocolate hippos.

Order your chocolate hippos by clicking here. And click here to read another article on this topic.

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