Making Beautiful Bauble Ornaments
by Barbara Strembicki

The minute I saw these glass baubles I was psyched...  The idea of messing with color always intrigues me.  I especially like complimentary combinations as I think they're interesting and eye catching.  Being able to play with color and make these beautiful ornaments at the same time was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

My finished bowl of baubles

 

Here's what you're going to need...                         

Making the ornaments is not terribly difficult, but there is a learning curve.  You'll need to be patient while you can get the hang of covering the inside of the bauble with Simple Solution #3 and giving it enough time to set up... without giving it so much time that it's no longer damp enough to grab the pigments properly.  Be patient and keep at it - the process does work!

You may wish to begin with plain old clear glass round ornaments if you can get them.  They tend to be fairly inexpensive which gives you the freedom to make a mistake.  If you don't have them don't fret.  As you'll see, it's possible to make a mess and still salvage the ornament.

The first thing you need to do is setup some space to work.  I tend to be a slob and like a lot of room if possible.  I'm lucky enough to have our giant cutting tables to spread out on.  I covered a large space with plain newsprint to keep the mess confined as much as possible..  You should cover your workspace too.  The Polished Pigments and Mica Powders tend to get everywhere - using the newsprint made clean-up much easier.

I started with a nice clean space and a bunch of clear glass ornaments and all of the shapes of baubles...

 

I arranged the Polished Pigments, Mica Powders, empty paper cups, Simple Solution #3, mini spoons, and paper towels all within easy reach.

Step 1  Decide which colors you want to use.  At least two is good, though I like to use three and a mica powder.  You need to do this first, before you put the Simple Solution inside the bauble.

Step 2  Take the hanger and insert thingy that holds it in place inside the bauble out and set it aside.  You should have a bauble with a naked opening.  Naked is good!  You need access to the opening so you can put stuff inside.  Squirt some Simple Solution #3 into the bauble.  It's difficult to describe how much - it will depend on the size of the bauble.  Start with about a teaspoon or so... 

 

Swirl the Simple Solution around so that the inside of the bauble is completely coated.  It's important to cover the whole interior of the bauble - the Simple Solution is what will make the pigment and mica adhere to the glass.  Once you've covered the entire inside turn the bauble upside down and set it in a paper cup to drain.

 

Here's one of those tricky parts I alluded to earlier...  You need to let the excess Simple Solution completely drain out of the bauble.  If a bubble forms over the opening pierce it and let the solution continue to drain out till there is at least 15 seconds or so between drips.  Pick the bauble up, turn it so that the opening is up and see if the solution that's coating the sides moves.  If it's too wet the pigment will run when you put it inside.  Too dry and the pigment will not adhere.  The humidity in your house will affect the set-up time.  Experimenting really is the only way to determine how much time is necessary.

Using either the  handle end of one of the mini spoons or a coffee stirrer, scoop some of your first color of Polished Pigment and ease the it into the opening of the bauble.  What you're going to see is the the openings are fairly narrow which means you can add a limited amount of pigment at a time.  That's ok, because it allows you to drop the pigment where you want inside of the bauble.  I usually ease the pigment in and then while there is still some on the end of the spoon I give a little flick to send the pigment toward a particular spot inside the bauble.  You'll find that turning the bauble upside down and in other directions allows you to get the pigment all over the inside.  Here's what one looks like once I've added the first color...

 

Step 3  Repeat Step 2 using a second color.  Your objective is to add the new color in the empty spaces as well as overlapping some of the first one. If you plan to use a third color don't cover all of the empty spaces.

Here's the bauble with the second color added

 

Step 4  Repeat Step 2 with a third color if you wish.  Again, don't feel as though you have to cover every last bit with this one.  You'll find it pretty difficult to do anyway, so just throw the color in there and have fun.  Here's my bauble once I added the third color...

 

It may appear as though the entire bauble has been covered, but it hasn't been.  Trust me...  The next step is designed to make certain that you've not only coated the entire interior of the bauble, but also have absorbed any excess Simple Solution.


Step 5  This is the final step and you use Pure Mica Powder in this one.  Scoop as much of the mica powder as you can onto the handle end of the spoon and shovel it into the bauble.  Do that again and again and again...  Until you've dumped a bunch of mica powder into the bauble.  Cover the opening with your finger and shake the bauble hard.  Remove your finger from the opening and look inside.  If it looks like there's a mica storm in there then you're done.  If the air inside is clear that usually means that there's either liquid Simple Solution left or it's still damp.  Either of those is a no-no and means you're not done.  Shovel more mica powder in, shake, and check for that perfect mica storm.  Once you see it you're done.  This is what my bauble looked like once the mica powder had been added...

 

Allow the bauble to dry overnight and then put the hanger/insert thingy back inside.  Add ribbon or fiber as a hanger and you're good to go!

If by the next day your lovely ornament doesn't look like it did when you finished it, it's usually because there was too little pigment and mica powder to absorb all of the Simple Solution.  I had this happen to a couple in the first batch I made.  Depending on how much "too much" of the Simple Solution was you may end up with an ornament with some interesting patterning... or one that's a mess.

This one was ok - I didn't mind the patterning and in fact think it's kind of cool

 

Same thing here... I can live with this.

 

This on the other hand was not acceptable...

If you look carefully you can see the Simple Solution pooled in the back of the ornament.  Yuck.

Rather than call this a total loss I decided to try and salvage the bauble.  I drained as much of the old Simple Solution out as I could and then added some fresh out of the bottle, did the swirl and drain thing and then followed the usual steps.  Interesting enough, you can salvage one that's gone wrong..  Here's the new version of that mess above...


 

Once I put Simple Solution inside it loosed up the old pigment which enabled me to add more and get a pretty good result.  I bet if you wanted, you could use Simple Solution to "wash" the inside and remove the old pigment and mica powder.  That would give you more of a clean bauble to start fresh with.
 

This last example shows what happened when I got impatient while trying to drain the Simple Solution out of one of the heart baubles.

 

Ignore the fact that this one is broken...  what you're looking at is the lower section where the pigment and mica powders ran and blended rather than creating the splotchy look.  Because I added the pigment before the Simple Solution had fully drained, the colors ran together and blended at the bottom of the heart where the Simple Solution had pooled.  If you look at the top, at the orbs of the heart, you can see the usual patterning.  Whether this was a mistake or serendipity is open to interpretation.  I was very pleased with the result which is not the usual case when I get impatient.  It took a huge amount of mica powder to soak up all of the Simple Solution.  If you decide to try this as a technique be sure you have enough to finish the job.  Remember, you're looking for that storm cloud of mica in the inside of the bauble as your indicator that the process is complete.

I hope that you enjoy creating your own holiday ornaments.  They're not limited to Christmas... remember that hearts would be wonderful at Valentine's Day and of course the eggs will be great come Easter.  Have fun!

SUPPLIES

 Click here to see the glass baubles, Simple Solution #3, Polished Pigments, and Pure Mica Powder.

Click here to see all of our fibers that you might use as a hanger for your bauble.