Glitter ornaments are all the rage at Christmas time. I will show you how to make the basic ornament and then some fancy variations on glitter ornaments that I tried. See all the ornaments I am making for ornament week here
First, you should read the general tips and help article that I posted. It will give you an idea of the stuff you need to do these easily and cheaply. Do not let your kids help until the glitter is dry!
What you will need
- Glass or plastic ornaments
- Fine Glitter
- Polycrylic
- Disposable Pipette
- Egg Carton
- Download File
Adding the Polycrylic
Disposable pipettes are a must for doing this. It is so much easier and the polycrylic goes where you want it to go. Get them here
First you need to remove the cap of the ornament. Then set up you egg carton on a piece of paper or wax paper and have it ready before you start.
Add about 1 ml of polycrylic to each ornament. Polycrylic is thin so it will spread easily. Swirl the ornament so that it covers all the inside of the ornament. If you can’t get the top that is OK. When you invert the ornament, that part will get coverage. The ornament will be cloudy but the polycrylic will dry clear. Invert the ornament in the egg carton and let the excess drain out the top. If doing multiple ornaments you can fill and invert as many as will fit in your egg carton.
Adding the glitter
Wait about 30 minutes before doing this step at least. Make sure the excess polycrylic is drained from the ornament. It should be coated evenly and still a little cloudy.
Add a lot of glitter though the top of the ornament. Swirl the ornament and invert it a few times to get good coverage of the whole ornament. It should look like this (This one is dry and the lid is back on. Don’t put the cap on yet):
Invert the ornament in the egg carton again and shake it a few times. The excess glitter will fall out. Let the ornament sit for a while inverted until the polycrylic is dry. I let mine sit overnight.
Variations
The second ornament at the top use multiple colors of glitter. You can mix the glitter before you put it in the ornament or if you want larger spots of one color you can apply the glitter with the disposible pipette. Just cut a small section of the tip off the pipette and it will suck up glitter. Squirt the glitter where you want it and then shake it after all the colors you want to add are in. You must do this fairly quickly so plan ahead for the colors you want to add. If you wait to long between colors you will get splotches of color and they won’t mix well.
You can mix paint and glitter in your ornaments too. I will go over this when I cover painting the inside of the ornaments.
Decorating your ornaments
Most people like to put vinyl on their glitter ornaments. I have several designs in the download section. If you want something else, like names, there are a couple of things to remember. The ornaments are curved. For vinyl to lie flat don’t make your vinyl to solid or too rigid. The vinyl needs to be able to form around the curve.
I have also seen where people put lace, ribbon or bows on their ornaments. This is where you can make the ornaments truly yours. Use your imagination and have fun with it.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make glitter ornaments,
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