I have found a number of articles about Corning Glass Works producing Christmas ornaments starting in 1939/1940. This article, from the Popular Science magazine, explains the production process and includes images (p.110-115). Essentially, the ornaments were produced in the same way Corning made light bulbs – with ribbon machines. The article refers to the “silvering” and coloring added to the ornaments. According to several articles I read, a silver nitrate was added to the inside of the bulb, and lacquer in different colors was added to the outside. Additional decorations were added by Corning or its distributors.
