When my children were born I decided to give them a special ornament every year, that way they would have their own ornaments when they were grown up and out on their own. With special ornaments to remind them of some of the wonderful but often simple Christmas days we had. Or the crazy Christmas eve's at my dad's with my step mother buying them tons of presents.
One year I couldn't find ornaments that I liked. And since I enjoy doing a variety of arts and crafts I decided to make some ornaments. I only have 2 children, but somehow the bug caught and ended up making a bunch of ornaments. These are just a few of the ornaments I made several years ago. I'm working on some new ones. And finishing up ones that I had started but not finished. I also have some glassware that I did. Candle holders and one vase out of almost a dozen that I did. I have 3 vases that I'm trying to get finished up. The process is really time consuming, and I can only paint little bits at a time - especially on the round items. The paint takes a little while to dry and since I have to hold them while painting them, they get painted in little bits. I always have to be careful with the rounded vases and ornaments because the paint will sag if it isn't left in just the right position. Most items have at least 2 coats of paint, some 3 or 4, and each layer has to be completely dry before adding another. It's not painted on with a brush, but gently squeezed from the bottle with a little metal tip on the end. I usually work on at least 6 items at a time - and rotate painting them. So, it's difficult to calculate how much time I spend on each one. I've tried keeping track of time spent on other endeavors - I usually lose the paper I have the time written on - or forget to write down when I started or ended................................silly things like that.
I'm not usually a red kind of person - but I love the way this red looks on the ornaments. Since I use regular ornaments with the silver paint inside - the light reflects back through the paint giving it some depth - most of the paints I use are transparent. I have some clear glass ornaments that as soon as I finish the ones I'm working on will get painted. I'm working on a large ornament right now that has poinsettias on it - it's almost done. I'm only doing one layer of paint on this one so it won't have quite the candy apple effect like the little one here does. But, it is exceptionally pretty.
Wishing everyone a great day.
If you'd like to see more you can go to http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5577802
or on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisianblue/
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