DIY Ombre Glass Ornaments
August 23, 2012
Yes, it’s only August, and I’m already peddling Christmas. But!…
Paint company DecoArt had contacted me to test drive their expanded paint line for glass. I was sent enamels, 3D, and frosted and glitter paints, but my favorite were the glass stains. Inspired by Scandinavian glassware, I experimented with a dip-dye technique to achieve an ombre effect with bulb ornaments. I know it’s riduculously early to be thinking about the holidays, but I envision these ombre ornaments on an all-white tree or hanging from a tree branch suspended from the ceiling. Would be a labor of love and cursings, but this tree mobile by Not Martha would be an awesome, beautiful application too. Or maybe attach to a string of lights for a wedding?
To make the ornaments, you will need: DecoArt transparent Glass Stain, clear glass ornaments, string, a small round bowl to dip the ornament in, and a paper grocery bag to catch any drips.
Step 1: Clean/dust outside of ornament with a damp cloth.
Step 2: Empty out entire bottle of glass stain into your dish.
Step 3: Tie end of a ~12 inch long string to top of the ornament. Knot a loop on the other end to hang the ornament while the paint dries.
Step 4: Wrap string around your hand and fingers so that it isn’t in the way, and submerge ornament about halfway. Pull out, letting paint drip off, then submerge again about 1/3 of the way. Pull ornament out, then submerge in smaller increments.
Step 5: Hang ornament over a paper grocery bag to drip-dry. I hung my ornaments off my cabinet knobs in the kitchen. The stain will pool to the bottom of the ornament, creating a little bubble. While the paint is wet, gently wipe this off with your fingertip. I left the ornaments to dry, but returned every 10 minutes to wipe off more paint. If the paint hardens, this is a little trickier to do. Just smooth it against the ornament gently.
Step 6: Cover any leftover paint with plastic wrap (use this paint for step 7).
Step 7: When the first layer of stain is completely dried. I dipped just the lower 1/4 my ornament back in to deepen the color. Let dry.
Some notes: While I set some lofty goals and aspired to handblown glassware, it takes some practice to get an even, graduated coat. I recommend practicing on empty glass food jars to get the technique down. I also found the blue paint to be somewhat more viscous and saturated than the black and pink paints, which required some extra dipping. You may also want to keep a toothpick handy for popping, in case air bubbles appear in the paint (had this issue with the black color).
For more glass projects, visit DecoArt’s glass site and also their glass Pinterest board.
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Just beautiful! I am planning to start on a Christmas project in a couple of weeks, and I’ve had this idea since last Christmas!
these are simply beautiful! i definitely want to make these!!
this is amazing. AMAZING! why are you so on the ball for christmas and so cool about everything you do? i really am into it.
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in Creative Busy Bee Craft Inspirations, under the Page 3 post on Aug. 24, 2012. Thanks again.
Thanks guys! Casey, you’re so creative, I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Jane, you’re too sweet, really. I’m usually deadbeat with holidays. Last-minute at best!
How would you go about doing two colors? Is it possible?
Hi Danielle, I’ve been wondering the same! I think it would work — I’d go about it by first dipping in one color, allowing it to dry, then do the rest of the dips in another color. I was contemplating a turquoise/blue, blue/black, or orange/pink combinations.
So then it would be the lighter color first then the dark one right? I wanted to do a gold or yellow with blue.
Jenn: I would try the lighter color first, but an undesired result would be the yellow and blue stains mixing together to create green. The very bottom of the ornament would need to be dipped in blue a few times to get a good solid coat of blue
An alternative to dip-dying is to brush the layers of paint on. Here’s a tutorial for ombre vases, but this method could probably translate well to glass ornaments: http://thecraftingchicks.com/2012/08/ombre-bud-vase.html
Hope this gets you going in the right direction, and sorry I can’t give any more concrete pointers!
these are bee-u-ti-ful! what a lovely idea, and i was just thinking the same thing (with using them as lights idea)! ♥
I love these, I’ve just started to think about thinking about Christmas , if that makes sense.This is a great starting point , thank you !
So very pretty! I like how they look by themselves like that. I would hang them outside the tree!!
these are so gorgeous. they really turned out great!~
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These are so pretty! I love colorful Christmas ornaments, so this perfect. :)
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Wauv…they are fantastic…I have to try these.
These are so very beautiful!!!
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I would put the stain inside the ornament and swirl it around…… I saw something similar, but it was done with putting broken crayons inside and heating the crayons with a blow dryer and rotate the bulb as you are heating the crayons
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Hi Tabitha, Thanks for the input! I did try coating the inside, but the paint took so long to dry, it ended up slipping entirely off the glass. The paint dried much more quickly on the outside of the bulb so I was able to get the ombre effect with multiple coats.
Oh wow, that crayon idea sounds so awesome! I’ll have to try that, but making sure heating the glass is safe first, of course : )
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