Some more ornaments based on ideas from the Christmas craft books I got in a post-Christmas sale this year. I got three:

Christmas Ornaments to Make, Christmas Comfort & Joy, and Simply Christmas.

These were done using a special kind of paint that creates a stained glass effect. As with the gold leafing, learning on a spherical fragile object may not be the best plan. I also learned that it was worth it to spend a little extra on the supplies. For my first attempt I used a boxed kit that had tiny samples of a lot of different colors in little pots like the cheap paints made for kids come in. The results were very blotchy and irregular. It was hard to apply the paint from the pots and I think the quality of the paint just wasn’t that good. I was also trying to create my own design from lines and liquid leading (drawing the lines on by hand using a kind of paint). I’m no artist.

So the first one was butt-ugly and got thrown away. For my next attempts, which you see here, I bought individual squeeze containers of paint – much easier to apply uniformly. I also got some of the shaped leading lines they sell. I got stars, diamonds, and circles and used them all as you can see. I still have something to learn about getting a really even coat with no bubbles but the results were significantly better. I especially like the one with the stars.