As promised a while ago, I'm finally posting this tutorial on marble painted glass ornaments. I can't say that I fully perfected it, so I may on occasion add new tips as I learn them. This is a simple, elegant, and inexpensive ornament that can be given as a gift or used to add special decorative touches to your Christmas tree. I received one of these as a gift a few years ago, and have always wondered how to make them. Well, with a bit of googling, I found what I needed. Here's how to do them.
Materials:
- plain glass ornaments (I like buying them on the after-christmas sales because I've seen them for as much as 70% off).
- paints of different colors. (these cheap acrylic paints seem to work just fine and are available in many different colors.
- small cup to hold/catch excess paint.
- straw (optional)
- ribbon for finishing touches
How to:
1. Remove the metal cap of the glass ornament.
2. Add a few drops of each paint within the ornament, that you want to include. Try dropping the paint in random locations within the glass ornament. I used 3 - 4 drops of each of the 6 paints in the picture.
2a. This is an optional step. As an added way of spreading the paint around, you can use a straw to blow the paint around the inside of the ornament.
3. Slowly rotate the ornament to cover the inside surface of the ornament. You may choose to occasionally let the ornament sit for a few hours before continuing to rotate and cover the inside surface. While you rotate the ornament, you'll begin to get more of a marbling effect on the paint. By letting the ornament sit for a few hours here and there, you get less vertical lines when you begin to drain.
4. Once the inside surface of the ornament is completely covered in paint, you are ready to drain. Place the ornament upside down (with the opening faced down) on a small plastic cup. The paint will slowly drain out of the ornament and into the cup. Allow it to dry for several days, a week to be safe. (Seriously, it takes this long for it to fully dry).
5. Once it's fully dry, put the metal cap back onto the ornament. Tie a ribbon on with a bow, and as a hanger for the ornament.
And that's it. Ready for your decorating or gift giving pleasure. Sorry it took so long to post this up. At least it's ready for next year. :-)
2 comments:
If you want to make them with kids, you can have glass ornaments for the grown-ups to make and clear plastic ornaments for the kids to use (Danny's preschool did these one year- they are very cute!).
Too cool. I didn't know they had clear plastic ornaments. Thanks.
Post a Comment