Painting on Glass

During the Christmas holiday, I visited my sister's home near Orlando, Florida.  Her Christmas tree was decorated with many keepsake ornaments and also many handmade ones.  I took the time to photograph several of the handpainted ornaments I had given her over the years.  As I edited and filed these photographs in my PC, I decided to share them with you here on my blog. Please excuse the imperfect photos as I was just trying to capture the different designs I've painted over the years. These are not all of the designs I painted, but they will give you suggestions to try.

If you have never painted on glass, now is the perfect time to try it.  Right now in January, many of the craft stores are having sales on glass ornaments, both the clear ones and the painted ones.  This is the time to stock up on glass ornaments to paint so you'll be ready for next Christmas.  Also, heart-shaped glass ornaments can be painted for Valentine's Day too!

I use FolkArt Enamels - acrylic paint for glass and ceramics for my glass ornaments. I don't cure them in the oven after painting as the paint bottle suggests. Instead, I let my glass painted ornaments air dry and consider them permanently cured after 2 or 3 weeks.  I clean the surface of the glass ornament with alcohol before painting. Test the surface in a tiny spot first with the alcohol if you are using a painted glass ball -  to make sure no paint comes off.

The ornaments below are examples of painted ornaments, rather than clear ones.

Here are more designs from past years:

This little heart shape would make a perfect Valentine's ornament too!

I love the little reindeer on this snowman's scarf.

I also painted reindeer faces with bird houses handing from their antlers!  I'll need to look for one to photograph to share. The bird with the button is also an ornament that I made for everyone in our family.

I hope your January shopping leads you to glass ornaments and you consider exploring glass painting.  You will only need 5 colors for most of the designs I painted - white, black, red, green and a blue.

I'd love to hear your comments and also the results of your glass painting, so click on "comments" below.

Have fun!
Linda Harbin
MidwestieLady