Custom Made Nutcrackers on Holiday Stamps

KIVI-TV in Boise, Idaho reports, "Ordinarily, Glenn Crider can turn out a nutcracker in two or three days. When the customer is the U. S. government, it can take considerably longer."

According to the station and Worldnow, "Crider, one of only a handful of nutcracker craftsmen in the United States, made the quartet of nutcrackers pictured on four of this year's holiday stamps. Once the final design for the nutcrackers was approved, he spent about a month carving, painting and assembling them."

Reporter Barry Abisch says, "Crider worked from sketches by Sally Andersen-Bruce, who photographed the nutcrackers for the stamps. Andersen-Bruce, whose studio is in New Milford, Conn., has produced more than two dozen other stamps for the postal service including holiday stamp sets in 2002, 2004 and 2005."

Crider is quoted as saying, "In most cases, I can produce an original in two or three days. It took about a month to produce these...to make sure the photographer ended up with the best possible product from which to create the images."

Shown above, Craftsman Glenn Crider with his holiday-stamp nutcrackers.

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