Painted Ornament Studio

Christmas Countdown - already?!

2009-09-28T08:31:00.001-04:00

It's always a little bit of shock to realize how close the holidays are! The kids are excited about Halloween - which means of course that Christmas is not far behind!

I've created a new free ornament pattern that was sent out to my newsletter subscribers last week - a Penguin Snow Globe Ornament.

Here it's shown painted for a couple's First Christmas Together, but I've also painted a sample with BFF (Best Friends Forever) in the heart. Comes in handy for all those kids gifts!

You can get a copy of the pattern by subscribing to my newsletter! There is also a coupon code good for Free Priority Shipping! ($5 value) on orders until Oct. 10! Perfect for you early shoppers!

Recycled Light bulb Ornaments

2009-08-17T14:40:00.001-04:00

Painting on light bulbs is a good way to experiment with painting on glass. If you are still fazing out the incandescent light bulbs in your house it is inexpensive as well.

I've had several laying around the studio for awhile, and decided to just paint them already! The penguins are based on a pattern of Deb Malewski's that was in the Winter 2007 Ornament Issue of Quick & Easy Painting, called Pretty in Pink.

If you have this issue you'd see that I changed some of the colors & details on the scarves to match the fabric I had for the hats. The plaid coat is my design. It's not exactly like the pattern - but they're still cute!

Glass painting tip: When painting a design that is going to cover the entire surface like these ornaments, I've found that it's easier to pounce the glass primer on with a make-up sponge than to brush it on with a paint brush. For the light bulbs I used J.W. Etc.'s Undercover Primer.

My last light bulb is an original monkey design. The sky & sand go all the way around the light bulb. It's a bright cheery design that would be good as a birthday ornament I think.

Custom Wedding Ornaments

2009-07-24T08:56:00.003-04:00

Original hand painted ornaments are the perfect gift for the bride and groom. A memorable keepsake for their tree for years to come! Ornaments can also be displayed on a hanger year round.

Check out some examples I have painted in the slideshow below. To order your own custom creation - contact me!

Sweet Sixteen Ornaments Rock!

2009-06-24T08:50:00.002-04:00

Order your own cool custom ornaments from Robyn Warne Designs!

Presenting the Happy Couple

2009-06-07T13:16:00.001-04:00

Without further ado, I would like to present Beauty & The Beast!

Beauty close up:

My girls like the Beauty ornament, the Beast creeps them out a little bit. I will not split the couple up - they are staying together, and will be sold as a set!

A peek at the Beast & his Beauty

2009-06-03T08:56:00.001-04:00

I designed and cut out these ornaments 4 years ago. They were prepped - then ended up in the U.F.O. (unfinished object) pile.

Sometimes when I get into a bit of a creative rut it helps to pull out something like this & just start painting it. I only made line drawings for these ornaments, I didn't have any idea about the color scheme or details. Making it up as I go along can produce some interesting results!

The Beast isn't finished yet - but he's getting there! The fur on his arms needs to be a little messier I'm thinking, he looks a little too "neat"!

I thought you might like a peek at my work area, these are the colors I've used so far on this guy.

When I have several projects going at once I can tell which palette belongs to each by looking at the colors!

Here's Beauty - I've just started working on her.

Together they make rather an odd looking couple! It's been fun painting them.

Party Favor Ornaments - Free Pattern

2009-05-25T09:02:00.003-04:00

A quick and easy project that can easily be customized to go with your event!

Use ornaments and ribbon that match your party theme colors.

You could add the date & guest’s name to personalize it!

Put them in a little bag with some chocolates & you’ve got an original handmade favor that will make your party memorable!

Copyright Notice

My patterns are for personal use. You can paint items for gifts, or in small quantities for sale. You may not reproduce the actual pattern or instructions for sale or redistribution. Teachers can make one copy of the pattern per student - making sure my name and copyright notice are intact.

Supplies Needed:

1 ½ inch diameter ornaments were used in the project
Ribbon
Folk Art Glass & Tile Medium
Acrylic Paint *
Deco Art Craft Twinkles – Silver (glitter paint)
Delta Interior/Exterior Gloss Polyurethane

*Note about paints –

I used a glass painting medium to prep the painting area then used my regular acrylic paints for the design. 2 coats of gloss polyurethane protect will protect the painted area. If you craft regularly – most likely you have acrylic paint. There is no need to buy special paint to create your ornaments!

The colors & brands of the paint I used to paint the designs are listed below. I’ve included color swatches you can use to find a match in your paint stash or to mix colors yourself! The designs are so small you really do not need to purchase a particular color or brand – use what you have!

Colors Used:

Black - Delta

Burnt Umber - Liquitex

Calypso Blue - Deco Art

Magnolia White - Delta

Oyster Pearl - Deco Art

Red Violet - Deco Art (this is a red-purple)

Red Violet - Folk Art (this is a blue-purple)

Note about brushes –

I like white nylon or golden taklon brushes for painting on glass. They hold their shape well and the bristles are fine and don’t leave ridge marks, which tend to be more noticeable on glass than on wood. The important thing is to have your paint at the right consistency – like heavy cream. If it is too thick it will not go on smoothly. Build up your colors in thin layers & remember to let dry between steps to prevent lifting!

You will need a basic assortment of brush sizes -

small flat for base coating (size 4 or 6)
small rounds for painting the elements (size 2, 4, 6 are good)
stylus or old brush for applying glitter paint

Prepping the surface & transferring the design pattern

The ornaments are primed with Folk Art Glass & Tile Medium. Apply in a circle shape to the front of the ornament (only on the design area). Let dry.

Base coat the background area with Magnolia White, you may need 2 thin coats for even coverage. It does not need to be perfect because the areas not covered by the design will get a layer of pearl paint.

I find it a lot easier to copy the pattern free hand onto the ornament with a pencil rather than tracing & transferring onto the round surface.

If you do not feel comfortable doing this you can try this method to transfer the pattern:

First trace the design onto tracing paper. Flip the tracing over & go over the lines with pencil. If you are transferring onto a dark background a white charcoal pencil or chalk will show up better.
Cut the tracing out, cut slits into the paper going around the outer edge of the tracing (like rays of a sun) to help it conform to the round surface.
The tricky part is holding onto the tracing while you go over the lines. Taping isn’t really practical – I place the ornament on a soft surface and hold the tracing with my index finger at the top & thumb at the bottom of the tracing. With a stylus, I go over the lines of the design working from the center outwards. That way you do not have to re-position the fingers holding the design down. I sometimes use this method if I want to make sure I get the main outlines of a design down or positioned – then I will free hand the details.

Round Ornament Tips

It helps to have somewhere to lay the ornament face up when waiting for the Glitter border & polyurethane to dry. I’ve used an egg carton & apple sauce cups as drying stations!

Painting the Designs

Glam Sunglasses & Pearls

Frames - are painted Black, when dry add Magnolia White highlights.
Pearls – if you need a guideline – lightly draw a line for the necklace, the pearls are dotted on with either a stylus or old round paint brush and Oyster Pearl. When dry, a highlight dot is added with Magnolia White.
Lenses – thin Burnt Umber with enough water to make a transparent wash (not watery!) Color in the lens area. When dry add highlights with Magnolia White.
Background – Mix Oyster Pearl + Calypso Blue (T), go over the background around the design area, you may need 2 coats for coverage. Add a touch of Red Violet (Folk Art) to the background mix and float lightly around the outside edge of design and stipple some around the design.

Born to Shop Shoes & Bag

Shoe - is painted Red Violet (Deco Art), when dry add highlights with Magnolia White.
Bag – is painted Black, you need 2 light coats for coverage – let the right side edge stay lighter looking with only 1 coat. When dry add some dots with the Deco Art Craft Twinkles.
Background - Mix Oyster Pearl + Calypso Blue (T), go over the background around the design area, you may need 2 coats for coverage. Add a touch of Red Violet (Folk Art) to the background mix and float lightly around the outside edge of design. Add some shading under the shoe & bag with the background mix + touch of black.

XOXO – Love Ya

XOXO – is painted with Black.
Lips – are painted with Red Violet (Deco Art). An easy way to add form to the lips is to paint highlights with Magnolia White following the curve of the upper & lower lip, let dry then go over the area with a wash of Red Violet. Let dry, then add highlights dots with Magnolia White. The open part of the mouth is painted Black.
Background - Mix Oyster Pearl + Calypso Blue (T), go over the background around the design area, you may need 2 coats for coverage. Add a touch of Red Violet (Folk Art) to the background mix and stipple lightly around the outside edge of design. When dry add some dots throughout the design with Deco Art Craft Twinkles.

Finishing the Ornaments

Using a stylus or old paint brush go around the outside edge of the design with Deco Art Craft Twinkles. You want to tap, not brush on! This will give the design a nice sparkly border. Let dry before finishing.
Give the design area 2 coats of Delta’s Gloss Indoor/Outdoor Polyurethane to protect & give a high gloss to the design!
Add your ribbon of choice when dry – enjoy!

If you have any questions regarding this design you can contact me at: info [at] robynwarne.com

Have fun painting!

Robyn Warne Designs

www.robynwarne.com

Pink & Black Dress Ornaments

2009-05-06T20:22:00.001-04:00

Finished ornament samples for the Dress 2 Impress & The Perfect Dress ornament!

First up is the Dress 2 Impress Ornament. I had samples painted on canvas paper before - this is the real thing!

Next is the NEW - The Perfect Dress Ornament! I'm excited about this one because I think it would make a great bridesmaid or bride ornament in addition to a Sweet Sixteen Ornament!

Dragon Ornament

2009-04-08T15:14:00.003-04:00

Glass ball ornament hand painted with a cool dragon to guard your tree! This was a fun one of a kind design to paint.

This ornament started out as clear glass. I sponged transparent purple glass paint over the entire surface, this made a nice slightly textured surface resembling hand blown glass.

The dragon outline was free handed onto the surface then painted with acrylics.

When I finished painting - it was sealed with a high gloss varnish. Not easy to photograph - but it looks great in person!

If you would like to purchase the dragon ornament - click here!

New Sweet 16 Purse Ornaments!

2009-03-16T19:55:00.001-04:00

Had a lot of fun playing around with new colors & embellishments!

I designed the wood cutout to look more modern than the blanks I was previously using. They were laser cut by Larry Lindahl in CA - ebay shop: lindahllaserworks I highly recommend him!

I will be adding these to my web store tomorrow.

Dreaming of Spring

2009-03-11T07:41:00.001-04:00

An old pen & ink drawing of mine. Originally titled "Mother Nature", I now think it should be called "Dreaming of Spring".

Not sure when I drew it - didn't put a date on it, but the discoloration of the paper makes me think it was awhile ago!

Where does it all come from?

2009-03-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't really noticed the clutter on my vanity table. Have you ever looked at the same stuff so often that you don't really see it anymore? I must have registered on some level that I should take a minute to dust and tidy up, just didn't have the time.

I've used this glass and silver ash tray as a catch-all for years. This morning I actually looked at the stuff in it:

The buttons and broken jewelry were handed to me by my kids at one time or another & ended up here. The stopper was from a reed diffuser bottle, pins & safety pins just seemed to belong in the dish. But for the life of me I cannot remember where that bolt-washer-nut combo came from - and why did I keep it?

More stuff on the table - doesn't it look more romantic than cluttered in sepia tone?

Not sure about this picture though:

I tried to pretty it up with black & white - guess it would be easier to just clean.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-08T12:09:00.001-05:00

I thought I would share a couple of pics of some older ornaments I found when I was putting our Christmas stuff away. They were painted as Christmas ornaments - but since they each have a heart in them - they could work for Valentines Day!

I have one of these bear couple ornaments painted with our wedding anniversary date on it. I forgot how cute it is! This is an extra one I had that is now hanging on my bulletin board by my computer.

This bear holding a pink heart is another older design of mine. I found this extra hiding with my Christmas ornaments. I painted two of these for my twins when they were born. I put their names, birth date & time, and their weight on the heart. Twelve years later - it's one of their favorite ornaments!

What do you think - should I put these designs back into production? Let me know in the comments!

Flickr Tags: bears,ornament,hearts,holiday

Bitty Bling Ornaments

2008-12-22T13:37:00.001-05:00

I painted up some cute little ornaments for my girls to give their friends this year. I've had these tiny hot pink ornaments for a couple of years - they are so small I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them.

I decided on a monogram design - the letters "A" "C" "J" & "M" were the popular letters! They are painted on a black background surrounded with silver glitter. The letters are accented with clear glitter - very sparkly!

I didn't crop out my pinkie so you can see how tiny they are!

Masks and Moons

2008-12-06T12:15:00.001-05:00

Those are the ornaments my gang picked to adorn our little "drama tree" this year. These ornaments are from my air-dry clay playing days. The masks all started with a sculpey doll face mold. This is my flapper inspired mardi gras mask.

And my carnivale mask:

An experiment with the eyes left in:

My kids think this is the creepiest one, it does look sort of like an ancient funeral mask:

The moons were made with a moon shaped cookie cutter - then I added little 3D noses and lips. Each one looked like it was singing! Weird but cute.

Thinking about the tree....

2008-11-21T14:57:00.001-05:00

We usually put our Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. So I've been thinking about which ornaments we will be putting on it this year (while I'm painting ornaments for other people!)

It's a small 4 foot tall artificial tree that my husband and I bought the year after we got married. With a small apartment - there really isn't room for a large one. And now with 3 kids and a dog - there REALLY isn't any room for a larger one!

Which makes decorating it interesting - I like to try to create a theme using the ornaments in my collection. It's a fun challenge since my ornaments are very eclectic. There are the ones I've made, the ones my kids have made, ornament gifts that I and the kids have received over the years.

How do you decorate your tree?

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:44:00.001-04:00

Just a quick Halloween hello before I jump back into painting Christmas ornaments!

Don't eat too much candy!

Tip for painting round glass ornaments

2008-09-20T10:43:00.001-04:00

I am working on painting a set of glass Christmas ornaments, which is a little out of my comfort zone. I have painted some in the past, but not with a design that needs to be symmetrical. I received a lot of good tips from one of my online painting group members - Tole Friends.

One suggestion was to use pieces of a measuring tape, or a flexible ruler to measure & line up elements on the surface. Since one of my girls borrowed & did not return my tape measure ( and deciding to make do instead of hunting for it!)

I discovered this disposable velcro strip I had saved from lettuce I purchased at the grocery store. It was perfect! It clings to itself so there is no need to hold it while marking the ornament!

I had a strip running around the middle of the ornament, then stuck a smaller piece on top to use as a grid for my design - how great is that?

I had to stop painting & share with everyone!! If your grocery store does not use this tape - don't despair yet! I have seen rolls of it in my local CVS store in the hardware/household items section. Back to painting!

Technorati Tags: painting

Snowmen

2008-08-20T14:20:00.001-04:00

Another holiday season is fast approaching! I know, it's only August, but once September comes and school starts - everything is a blur and the next thing I know - it's January.

If you like getting a jump on your holiday shopping - stop by my website! Until August 31st you can get 20% off your order if you sign up for my newsletter! Great gifts without driving or long lines!

New Ornament Pattern - "Star Baby Angels"

2008-07-13T15:32:00.001-04:00

Well - I've managed to finish my new ornament pattern! Actually two designs in one - there is a girl pattern & a boy pattern. Based on little baby angel ornaments I made years ago these make great gifts for new moms, grandmothers, angel lovers etc.!

I also give instructions for 4 different skin tone options:

This will be an e-pattern (sent as a PDF file via email after purchase) - cost will be $5. You can order it from my website!

Technorati Tags: ornament,pattern,angel,girl,boy,painting

Ballerinas added to my Etsy shop

2008-06-19T15:40:00.002-04:00

I've just uploaded the last 6 of my little ballerina ornament samples I have left. These were on my website awhile back - but I took them off when I gave the site a makeover.

I have 3 brunette, 2 blondes and 1 redhead left. To see how cute they are - click over to my etsy shop. I have them listed individually so you can see the detail & personality of each one!

I will not be making any more of this particular design - so if you want one - grab them while there here! Have a great day!

Simply Irresistable....

2008-05-27T14:16:00.007-04:00

Totally un-painting related - but "oh, so cute!" My Dad caught this picture of our dog Sasha giving a "raspberry" to her friend Nali.

So silly!

Goth Bride

2008-04-21T15:08:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking about doing a Gothic Bride design for awhile. My Romantic Bride Ornament is the perfect shape for her, since the dress design is based on a Regency Period gown. I decided to make her dress a deep purple (one of my favorite colors!) with a black veil. She is available on my website.

If you are familiar with my other work, you know I do a lot of whimsical & cute designs. This is an example of my "other side"! I think she has a dark intense beauty - though she may not be "cute"!

Tags: ornaments, new design, gothic

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Website redesign launch!

2008-04-01T10:27:00.006-04:00

It's taken a bit longer than I thought - but the redesign for http://www.robynwarne.com/ is up! I think it's a lot easier to navigate and find those ornaments you're looking for!

Now that most of that work is out of the way, I can get back into the studio & paint!

I plan on adding a bunch of new designs as soon as I get the samples done!!

Plus - I'm going to try and post a tutorial or two here on the blog!

Remember to sign up for the free newsletter http://www.robynwarne.com/newsletter to keep informed of new designs, free patterns and discounts on the website!

New Ornament Designs for 2008

2008-02-19T18:10:00.001-05:00

I have 3 New Sweet Sixteen Purse Ornaments. Soon I'll have a new Perfume & Nail Polish Ornament that would be cute for either a Sweet Sixteen or other Girly Girl Birthday! I just have to get the samples painted.

I've added a couple of cool Rocking Horse Ornaments for boys and girls, they'd be adorable for baby's first Christmas. I'm also working on a snowglobe ornament.

I hope to have the new website up soon - WITH pictures of my new stuff! Stay tuned!

Tags: ornaments, new designs