I’ve painted several Christmas ornaments in the past but continue to consider them to be odd jobs.
These ornaments were sold specifically to be decorated. First they have to be primed. I use gesso, which might just be the same as flat white house paint but sold in art supply stores as if it is special. When I was experimenting with these new ornaments last year, I tried oil paint without the primer and it still scratches off the surface of the plastic.
By sticking them on the end of a paintbrush, I was able to paint all the way around in one session. It isn’t good for paintbrushes to rest on their bristles, so I was glad that the gesso dried quickly.
Next, I waited for the printed photos to arrive so I could start. This is a little bit too hard for me. Painting on a small sphere might be too hard for anyone with normal to large sized hands in addition to figuring out how to make things look normal on a sphere.
So, I started with the easiest parts – sky and water. This will need several coats of oil paint to get the color and the shapes right.
It was tricky to get them to rest with the wet paint side up. Next time I will need to rig up some sort of a hanging system.
This is going to take awhile. Good thing I started in June.
7 Comments
Jana, love the idea of hand-painted Christmas ornaments painted by you! Your snowy sequoia scenes would be beautiful!
Cheryl, the whole ornament thing started when I painted a snowy sequoia scene to represent Sequoia Nat’l Park for Laura Bush’s 2007 Christmas tree.
Just an idea–how about using chopsticks to mount your ornaments? No bristles to squish!
That is a good idea. I may have some. Someone else suggested resting them in an egg carton. This blog is followed by resourceful and helpful folks!
The problem with using an egg carton is you’re still touching the sides of the ornament to the egg crate. With a chopstick (or thin branch) none of the ornament would be touching anything, keeping it clean, while it dries.
I’m sure there’s a good Chinese restaurant in Visalia somewhere. . . .
In my past ceramic days- I painted several ornaments as gifts one Christmas. Its tricky – at best. I didn’t do a scene that wrapped around the entire ornament. But what I used was egg cartons. It kept the ornament in one place- not rolling around, and stationary enough that I could paint the scene.
I just started volunteering for FPNO- Foster Parents Night Out. Several churches in the area combine their volunteer resources to provide a night out for foster parents once a month….for four hours. That includes their biological children as well. They can drop their children off where they will be fed, entertained, and loved, while they get the much needed respite. I will be the craft lead – which will be a bit challenging as I will be planning the craft time for toddlers through high school!!! My Pinterest account will be well used.
We won’t be painting Christmas balls……I can assure you. Ha ha ha
Enjoying summer in sunny Oregon.
So nice to hear from you, Anne! Good tip about using an egg carton – my spheres might be a bit too big, but I will try it.
So glad you are in sunny Oregon as opposed to smoky Oregon.
What a great volunteer job for you – so necessary and appreciated. Definitely no Christmas balls in that setting!!
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