Hand painted, glass, Christmas ornaments.
I love Christmas time. Spiritually the season renews hope. Socially it revives much of humanity’s focus on peace and love. For us creative spirits the season inspires the very act of creativity. And finally I love the traditions: lights and decorations; Christmas trees, cookies, cards and caroling; making, giving and receiving gifts; and of course gathering together in celebration with family and friends .
Last night many of favorite things about the season came together with an amazing menagerie of woman gathering for our annual Christmas ornament exchange. This get-together with my girlfriends is one of many gatherings and I look forward to it each year. It has become my tradition to personally create the ornament I take for the exchange, and this year I was particularly pleased with my creation – a hand-painted glass globe depicting a manger scene.
Other examples of my painted ornaments
Wow!! Those are amazing! You are so talented! It’s funny that you posted these ornaments because I sat down last night with the intent of painting on plastic ball ornaments, like these (although I do not know if your ornaments are glass or plastic…that might make a difference). I had such a difficult time – and truly with awful results! If you would offer your expert advice, what paint do you use and do you have to prime the surface at all? I found that the Martha Stewart acrylic paint (one pearl finish and the other course glitter) rather smeared than held a tight, clean line. It also took me about 3 coats to make it opaque. I plan to paint my home (our 2012 new home) onto a ball and this is how I was thinking of approaching it. Since the paint doesn’t seem to adhere well to the plastic, I painted a white/pearl circle on the ball to act as my base coat/canvas. And then I’ll continue painting from there. I don’t plan to go into as much beautiful detail as you do by adding dimension with shading…but I’d just like to have a straight, clean line if at all possible! Any suggestions are warmly welcomed and anticipated 😉
LikeLike
Awe thanks Amber and just for you, here is my brief tutorial on painting an ornament. I use acrylic craft paint on glass or plastic bulbs. I don’t prime the bulb but I do use a square soft brush, 1/2 inch or so wide, to carefully apply the base coat of paint (it may streak a bit but the image I apply next camouflages this); if you want it more opaque apply more layers, letting paint dry between layers. After the base coat has completely dried I use detail brushes to paint on the scene (take care not to overwork the surface, as it may cause the base coat to lift). Finally, once I am satisfied with the image, I dip the entire bulb into a water /based sealer. Also I have used white or silver bulbs to begin with, such as the bulb featured with the image of the Christmas tree hunt, which was a snowy scene. Happy painting Amber, and feel free to contact me if you need any help.
LikeLike
Thanks so much! That helps me a lot! I’ll let you know how it goes…I won’t be painting for another few days, though.
LikeLike