Painted Ornament Studio

Making a Custom Wedding Ornament

2012-01-15T13:56:00.001-05:00

A story in pictures.

Finishing up a custom ornament.

2012-01-14T08:39:00.001-05:00

I have taken pictures of this wedding ornament at different stages of the process. It is ready to be varnished now. I will write a longer step by step post later!

Alice in Wonderland Ornaments

2012-01-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Alice in Wonderland set of ornaments I created for a client last year are some of my favorite designs! I'm going to take some time to design similar colorful, fantasy inspired designs to add to my shop.

This slideshow showcases the collection - enjoy! Let me know what you think, would you like to see more designs like this offered?

Presenting - Danse Macabre' - The Clown

2011-09-21T08:08:00.001-04:00

Last year I was trying to come up with new ideas for an old ballerina ornament cutout - read about it here.

I am happy to introduce the first new ballerina ornament from the Danse Macabre' line - The Clown!

One of a kind! The reaction she received from my in-house critics was mixed. They felt she was kind of creepy, but for a Halloween ornament - I think that's OK!

She will be available for sale in the shop later!

2011 - New Ornament Designs Update

2011-08-20T12:18:00.001-04:00

Princess for a Day Ornament

Glittering Crown & Slipper on a golden cushion. The dangling heart can be personalized with a date or monogram.

This design makes a sweet keepsake gift for a princess of any age!

Only 1 available.

Carnivale Mask Ornament

A bejeweled golden mask with purple ribbons on a celedon green background hand painted on a deep magenta glass ornament. This colorful design captures the spirit of Mardis Gras or your masquerade theme event!

Skull Wedding Ornament Sets - 2 New Designs this year!

Skull Bride & Groom Set 1 - Hand painted on glossy deep burgundy glass ornaments. Groom has a jaunty grey hat with rose & feather stick pin. The Bride is wearing a veil that is gathered at the top with sprays of red & pearl beads. Only 1 set available.

Skull Bride & Groom Set 2 - Hand painted on rich red velvet matte glass ornaments. Groom has a wicked old west style hat with a red rose. The Bride is wearing an elaborate silver, lace pearl studded wedding cap instead of a veil. She is surrounded by red roses. Only 1 set available.

It's Never too Early!

2011-04-20T10:10:00.001-04:00

Spring is here, Earth Day, Easter & Mother's Day are right around the corner. So, why would you be thinking about Christmas ornaments now? I realize that most of you won't be, but here in the studio, it really is Christmas all year round!

I had the privilege of painting lots of cool ornaments for some amazing & patient customers - THANK YOU! Wedding ornaments, particularly Couple Portraits were pretty popular!

Some of my other custom wood cutout design requests were for a Great White Shark, a portrait of a Horse & Rider - set of 2, a Showgirl Portrait - set of 4. Custom glass ornament requests included a travel ornament that incorporated 4 destinations illustrated with 7 designs, a restaurant franchise picture and set of 4 ornaments for a group of shopping buddies.

I had a blast designing and painting each and every one of these ornaments! However, the number of orders I received made me realize just how much time it takes to create them.

To ensure that each order gets the attention it deserves, I made the decision to move my custom order cutoff date up
to November 5th, 2011 - 6 weeks before Christmas.

Custom ornament requests made after the cutoff date will be taken, however I cannot guarantee delivery in time for Christmas.

It's hard to predict how busy the season will be, so please order early! When you submit an enquiry, I can give you a time estimate based on the number and complexity of the orders I'm currently working on.

Happy Sweet 16!

2011-03-02T10:27:00.002-05:00

Baby Angel Ornament Designs

2011-02-15T09:43:00.001-05:00

I'm using some of my designs to create ornaments over in my Zazzle store! Follow the links below to check them out!

Baby Girl Angel Ornament by robynwarnedesigns
View other Christmas tree ornaments

Baby Boy Angel Ornament by robynwarnedesigns
Design personalized Christmas tree ornaments

From Start to Finish

2011-02-02T08:10:00.002-05:00

Coming up for some air. It's been a whirl of drawing, painting, packaging and shipping the last 2 months!

I want to thank everyone that purchased an ornament for 2010 - you're the best!

Would you like a peek into a custom design as it is created?

After the request, I create a pencil sketch. The sketch helps me work out design details, composition etc. If the design is based on a photo and none of the colors are being changed, a gray scale pencil sketch is done for the client's approval.

The next step depends on whether the design is for a glass or wood ornament. This design was for a glass ball ornament, so after prepping, the main design elements are drawn.

Drawing on a round surface is challenging! This step sometimes takes the longest!

Then comes the fun part - painting the design! This is the finished ornament.

Away We Go....Christmas 2010!

2010-10-20T08:18:00.001-04:00

Christmas ornament painting is well under way here in the studio!

I paint ornaments all year, usually for Weddings, Sweet Sixteen's and Baby Gifts. But October is when things really get busy!

I'm working on some great custom ornament orders right now and thought you'd might like a sneak peek into my studio to see where the Christmas magic happens!

This is where I take ideas and create my hand painted ornaments! Not very glamorous is it? My studio is a great example of recycling and reusing old furniture and objects from around the house.

My husband built the paint/supply cart for me. The tables to the side of my drafting table are old relics of his Grandparents, a metal cart & cabinet from the 50's that hold supplies.

My command center a.k.a. my drafting table! I think it's considered an antique now - I've had it since high school.

You can see some of my DIY and "make-do" innovations! The ornament rod where I hang ornaments to dry in between painting for instance was a temporary fix that's become permanent because it works so well!

The remote is for my radio which is off in the corner with finished ornaments, it's also my shipping area. This area is completely recycled, mostly with stuff from no longer being used in the rest of the house.

OK - got to get back to work! Thanks for stopping by!

Pumpkin Light Bulb Ornaments!

2010-08-15T20:31:00.001-04:00

These jack-o-lantern ornaments were fun to paint! One looks so surprised while the other one looks kind of evil!

I didn't use a pattern for these guys - just primed and started slapping on the paint. They have a wire hanger wrapped around the socket, which I then covered with green felt.

Go ahead and come up with your own wicked gourd characters and put those old light bulbs to good use!

Christmas in July Weddings - Etsy Treasury

2010-07-17T10:58:00.001-04:00

I want to thank Jessica Jeffcoat aka - StyleDealDiva for including my Custom Wedding Cake Ornament in her Christmas in July Wedding Treasury! Every item Jessica picked looked so nice & pretty together, it was an honor to be included!

The ornament shown in the treasury is a custom design I created from a client photo of the wedding cake table. The iris bouquets were so bright & colorful, they just make the ornament pop!

My custom wedding cake ornaments are wood, cut by hand on a scroll saw from my sketch. I then hand paint it with acrylics and seal with a durable water-based varnish. The couple's names & wedding date are written on the back. Each one is signed and dated by me! I also design & paint wedding designs on glass ball ornaments which can be seen in my flickr album.

Other Custom Wedding Cake Ornaments I have done. They average 5 1/2"-6" high and are cut from 1/8" thick wood. I offer custom ornaments in both my Etsy Shop & my web site. Contact me to order yours before the holiday rush! Christmas in July Sale now through 7/25/10 - Free Shipping on Custom Orders!	Custom Wedding Cake Ornament with Claddagh Cake topper and green Hydrangeas.
Custom Wedding Cake Ornament with roses topper and rose petals strewn down the side.	Custom Wedding Cake Ornament with roses topper and ribbon trim on each layer.

Custom Wedding Cake Ornament with hydrangea topper and hydrangea bouquets & ferns surrounding it.

Custom Wedding Cake Ornament with sparkly initial "C" topper and pearl & crystal ribbon trim on each layer. Front & back view painted on this one!

Cinderella & Snow White Ornaments - A tale of two designs that changed over time.

2010-07-05T15:34:00.001-04:00

I recently started painting the remaining blanks for my Fairy Tale Ornament Collection. My first thought was - I don't paint like that anymore! My style has changed and my technique has evolved in the 7 years since I first created the designs.

My Cinderella Ornament originally had brown eyes and hair and was wearing a pearl gray Empire style gown. I wanted her to have a more elaborate gown, so I added a sash and a second lace-trimmed layer to her skirt. White over the elbow length gloves and a glittery gold mask complete her new look.

The changes to my Snow White Ornament are mainly to her dress. I wanted the dress to look more like a medieval style "princess" dress. Snow White is now wearing a pink & gold floral brocade gown over a white chemise. I like the combination of an old-fashioned dress design done with modern colors.

I'm working on the Pumpkin Coach Ornaments now. I'll post pictures when they are done!

Giving Away the Goth Bride!

2010-05-19T07:49:00.001-04:00

You can enter a comment here or on my facebook page to win my Goth Bride Ornament.

I just found out that Goth Day is on Saturday, May 22, so in honor of the day I've decided to give away the bride!

She has been waiting for you! Enter a comment below for a chance to make her yours!

I'll pick the lucky winner on Sunday morning. Good Luck!

Halloween Ballerina Ornaments - Design Quest

2010-05-15T11:27:00.002-04:00

The challenge - 6 large ballerina ornament blanks I never painted because I fell out of love with my original design.

What to do with them? I played around with the idea of creating some kind of set, like Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz characters. Besides not being original, I was restricted by using my pre-made cutouts, I was locked into a single silhouette for each design.

I settled on doing a Halloween theme, and have narrowed down the choices to these 6 designs:

These are the Clown, Witch & Ghost Ballerina Ornaments:

These are the Skeleton, Scarecrow & Zombie Ornaments:

Thank you to Jeanne for voting in my poll & suggesting the Scarecrow design!

Fin, wings & kimono....ornament elements

2010-05-08T09:22:00.002-04:00

The three do not have much in common, they are parts of the U.F.O (Un-Finished Objects) I recently painted.

Some background, the angel ornament was first sketched in 1999, I made and sold a few at local craft fairs. I discovered 2 blanks lurking in my ornament pile and painted 1 for an exchange. This is the last one:

The Girl with Kimono and Mermaid Ornaments were sketched and cut in 2004. They were discovered in the pile with the Little Angel ornament blank:

They will be added to the store later!

Painted Terra Cotta Eggs

2010-04-02T08:34:00.001-04:00

Terra cotta eggs from the craft store transformed.

Into a creepy egg:

Peek-a-Boo Creepy Egg	Left hand emerges
Right hand	I see you!

Into an expression of love:

My heart is yours.

Always.

Into a cool mix of colors and symbols:

And into something cute & silly:

Happy Easter!

Don't eat too much chocolate!

Painting the Skull Jacket - A Quick Review

2010-02-13T15:08:00.001-05:00

You can see how the design changed from the sketch, which had a huge bow & banner over the skull:

To how I painted it on the jacket - I wanted the focus to be the skull & roses, so I made adjustments when I drew the design on the jacket.

Step 1 - Sketched the design on the jacket with a white charcoal pencil - then when over the charcoal with opaque white Createx Airbrush Paint. Some shading was achieved by varying the number of coats to each area:

Step 2 - Colors were chosen as I went along. I started by coloring the roses dark pink and the bow blue. The colors I used were transparent - Createx Airbrush Colors, so the under painting shows through:

Step 3 - The ribbon around the main design was painted turquoise blue. I deepened the color of the roses, added some shading & highlighting to the stems and leaves. Continued to color in the skull & banner with white to make more solid looking. Added a little bit of blue shading to the banner.

Step 4 - Used violet to deep the shading below the bow. Shaded the skull with violet & blue. Added some more shading to the roses. At this point I was pretty much done.

Step 5 = Finished! I added some highlights to the squiggles around the ribbon. Put some random silver dots around the design to add some sparkle (this is a girl's jacket!) The word on the banner was suggested by the recipients Dad - it's the title of her favorite song.

Painting on fabric was a fun change from my usual work! It's bigger, so I don't get bogged down in tiny detail work. The paints blend with each other as you apply them on fabric, there is less room for error, but more room for "happy accidents"!

Random thoughts about new designs.

2010-02-06T14:46:00.001-05:00

I've been coming up with so many great little doodles in my sketchbook lately. The challenge though is - what do I do with them now?

Some of my sketches make it to a finished piece, others languish, because I cannot envision them as full color paintings. There is something mysterious about a gray toned pencil sketch or a black & white ink drawing that gets lost once you render it in color. At least I think so!

I might try and do some monochromatic paintings for this Dark Carnivale line I've been thinking about doing. It is a combination of bright, gaudy, flashy color with dark, sepia, candle lit mystery. Pretty vague - huh? It's the beginning of an idea, it's still intangible, so it's hard to describe. It will be interesting to see how it works out!

Working on a new design - even I can't say what the final product is going to look like the first time I paint it. As the painting progresses, I'm making little changes based on how it's coming out. If I'm planning on reproducing the design, I'll write down the colors & paint mixes as I go along. I'll add paint swatches to my notes so that I'll be able to replicate the result.

Now to get back to work!

Born 2 Shop Gift Card Holder - New Free Painting Pattern

2010-01-18T13:03:00.001-05:00

This project was inspired by all the store gift cards we got for Christmas this year, and all the time we've been spending at the mall redeeming them!

I painted the design on some faux leather card holders I found at Target a year or two ago. I'm not sure if they are still available, but the pattern can be used on a similar surface. How about painting it on a hand made card holder?

Available as a free download for newsletter subscribers now - it will eventually be added to the free painting pattern page on my website.

Have you painted any of my designs? I'd love to see what you've created - share a link in the comments to your project pictures online - or you can share your pictures on my fan page!

Happy Painting!

Custom Ornament Design 2009 Video Review

2010-01-08T10:50:00.002-05:00

Custom designs I created this past holiday season, made into a cool video!

Why not give a hand painted gift this year? Perfect for Birthdays, Baby & Wedding Showers, New Home, Anniversaries you name it! I can paint my designs on surfaces other than ornaments as well!

How do you choose the right ornament?

2009-11-19T08:18:00.001-05:00

Giving an ornament as a gift during the holidays is a tradition for many people.

Parents and Grandparents start by adding a new ornament each year for their children & grandchildren. They may choose a holiday theme such as snowmen, and get one for each child, personalized with their names & the year.

As children grow older, ornaments are chosen to match the child's interests, hobbies & achievements in addition to the usual holiday favorites.

Special occasions can be celebrated with a new ornament. A new baby, baby's 1st Christmas, a couple's 1st Christmas together, a sweet sixteen are just some of the events where you can find a special ornament that is just right.

What do you do if you want an ornament that is extra special? A wedding ornament that looks like your wedding cake? An ornament with meaning? An ornament that captures a moment in time? A custom designed ornament can be just what you're looking for.

Custom designs are a great gift, but require time to design & create! The most important part of ordering a custom design besides the idea, is to make sure you order early!

Remember, ornaments can be given for any occasion, any time of the year!

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!