How-To: Christmas tree ornaments three ways!
UPDATE: This post (and links) are from 2018. Dates will have changed.
The holiday season is upon us! Every year at I Made It! Glass Creations, we put out special holiday shaped sun catchers. They make the perfect personal touch to home decorations or a thoughtful gift for everyone on your list.
We have many holiday shapes to choose from including everything from dreidels and snowflakes to Santa hats and snowmen. Our most popular shapes are the Christmas trees. In honor of the November 14th ornament launch and our most popular trees I have put together this little tutorial to inspire your creativity when you visit our art studio.
These three trees use the same basic double-sided technique, but each use a different type of glass as the green foliage to give a unique feel to each tree.
Back sides decorated in confetti, 3 mm, and stringer.
For the first tree, our super thin confetti glass was used to cover the entire back. Three different shades and textures of green confetti was use, but also notice the pieces overlap each other; when fused, the overlapping adds even more color and texture.
The second tree is covered in our thick 3 mm glass. Using two shades of green, alternating wedges were cut to fit together and create a zig-zag pattern.
The last tree is a little different than the first two. Unlike the first trees, this tree design is more open as the whole back is not covered. Instead, a zig-zag pattern is made from stringer to give the suggestion of a tree.
[After flipping the third tree over and decorating it, it seemed to be missing something, so I sprinkled confetti on the back to add a little more interest and more clearly define the tree. So both the stringer and confetti are on the back side of the tree in the next pictures.]
Both sides decorated
Once all the glue on the back is dry, I flipped the trees over to add details to the front. All three trees are decorated using large frit (AKA wee-one’s or safety glass) as the colorful ornaments. The first tree also uses pieces of 3 mm and stringer in horizontal lines, and the second tree has garland made of stringer.
Finished fused tree ornaments!
Voilà! After a night in the kiln the trees are sparkling and ready to add that something special to your home. Hopefully seeing these trees gives you a little inspiration! Drop-in and get a head start on holiday gifts while spending time with friends and family! If you are feeling inspired but don’t know where to start, we are offering classes specifically for ornament making on December 10th and 13th. Sign up on-line and a team member will help you create whatever you envision. The class will include all our holiday shapes, not just trees!
