Paint Swirled Ornament

Decorating Glass Ball Ornaments

These paint swirled ornaments are truly a beautiful way to decorate clear glass ball ornaments. Clear ball ornaments can be found in craft stores and in the dollar stores around the holidays. These can be decorated in many different ways. Here I show how adding some acrylic paint inside the ornament can have a beautiful effect. You can use colors to match the decor or theme of your Christmas tree. Friends and family will find it hard to believe you made these yourself, they almost look too good to be "homemade"! If you would like to see other ways to decorate clear glass ball ornaments, check out these pages too: snowflake ornament, tinsel ornament, and sparkling gem ornament.

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Things Needed:

Clear glass ball ornament
a few colors of acrylic paint
a tissue, napkin, or paper towel

1. Begin the paint swirled ornament by removing the top covering to the ornament and set it aside. Next, dribble some acrylic paint inside the ornament. Add a good amount, and swirl it around a bit.

2. Next, add in another color of paint (here I'm adding green). Swirl these colors around by rolling the ornament between your hands. Fill in gaps by dripping in some more paint in that area, as best as you can.

3. When about half of the inside of the bulb is covered, take a tissue and cover the top opening with it, and hold it tight with your finger. Then, give the ornament a good shake or two, carefully checking progress in between shakes. Try to get all the glass covered. You want to shake to get a good swirl effect, but not too much that the colors become completely mixed and change color.

4. Allow the ornament to dry well with the ornament cover off, then replace the cover and hang your beautiful paint swirled ornament on the Christmas tree, or give away as an impressive gift!

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What Other Visitors Have Shared

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Paint Swirled Ornament: Thick Paint?
I am working on this ornament and am finding that my paint is a little thicker than I would like and it just isn't "swirling" around as easy as I would …

Paint Swirled Ornaments: Some helpful hints
I have made 100's of these, the instructions that are given are not exactly how you can get the best look. I only use a 4" ornament. I do not wash them. …

Drying Issues
I tried this craft with plastic ornaments and acrylic glitter paint. I completely covered the inside of each ornament, left the tops off, and set them …

Paint Swirled Ornament: Question
How many bottles of paint do you think I need for 100 glass ornaments? We are doing this for our 5th grade Winter party craft. Response from Crafts …

Swirled ornaments
I loved this project... I had so much fun trying different colors. I sold some to friends and in my booth at the Antique store in Hazel, KY. I also gave …

Question about acrylic paints
I am doing the acrylic paint clear glass ball ornaments. I find that the reds do not do as well as other paint colors. Is there a reason for this? …

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