Looking for last minute gift ideas for your customers? Here are three ornaments that can be made by anyone in a matter of minutes.
Aventurine Tree
Difficulty: Super Duper Easy (No cutting required)
Glass Used: 3" White Circle Blank; Aventurine Tree CutUps; Fine Sky Blue and Medium Clear Frit; Black Multipen
Tools Used: Cordless Drill and 1/8" Diamond Drill Bit
Directions: Just place the CutUp in the circle, sprinkle the frit, and add a message with the Multipen. If your handwriting is as bad as mine is, then you can ask someone to write the message for you. Thanks Kristin. Now, when deciding on a message one thing to consider is how the ornament will be hung. You can drill a hole or use a jewelry bail. For this one I chose to drill a hole because, let's face it, I'm a man and I am required to use power tools whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Tree With Presents
Difficulty: Medium (Cutting required)
Glass Used: 3" White Circle Blank; Dark Green Strips; Yellow, Amazon Green, Red Opal, and Turquoise Blue Buffalo Chips; Red and White Stringer; Red and Cobalt Blue Bits; Medium Clear Iridescent Frit; Black Multipen
Tools Used: Glass cutter; Wheeled Nippers; Glue
Directions: The most difficult part of this project is making the tree. The main part of the tree is three pieces of a Dark Green strip. Cut one small triangle, then two trapezoids;, one a little wider than the other. I used the nippers to cut a little tree trunk. I broke the red stringer into little pieces to use as garland wrapped around the tree. I sifted through the Buffalo Chips to find some really tiny pieces for the bulbs and put them on. I used a slightly larger yellow Buffalo Chip for a star. I used the nippers to cut the red and blue bits into smaller squares for presents under the tree. Then I broke the white stringer into little pieces for ribbon around the presents. Then, Merry Christmas was written across the top. Thanks again Kristin. After the ornament was contour fused, instead of drilling a hole I used a jewelry bail and E6000, to show you that there are other options. I then tied a loop of gold ribbon to hang it.
Wreath
Difficulty: Easy (some cutting required)
Glass Used: 3" White Circle Blank; Medium Moss Green Frit; Red Stringer; Red Opal Scrap Glass (Bits or Buffalo Chips will work)
Tools Used: Glass Cutter; Breaker Grozer
Directions: Place glue on the outside half inch of the circle, leaving room in the middle so you end up with a wreath and not a green disc. Then pour the frit on the glue until you have a mound around the circle and it resembles the shape of a donut. I used a large angled brush handle to clear any frit out of the middle of the wreath. After you're happy with the way it looks, you can add glue to the top of the frit to help hold it in place. The difficult part is making the bow. I had a Red Opal block and cut pieces off two corners for the “loops” of the bow. They were shaped like little baseball fields. I cut a smaller one from a third corner for the “knot”. For the bow’s ends, I cut 1/8” little curved strips from the same corners as the “loops”. Your score line should be parallel to the previous one. After all the pieces were cut I assembled it with a dab of glue under the knot and let it set until the glue was dry. Then you can glue it on your wreath. I broke tiny pieces of the Red Opal stringer with the Breaker Grozer tool to add a little color. Finally, I wrote ’09 in the middle. I finished this one off just like the Tree With Presents.
Well there you have it, three great looking ornaments that take very little time to make and adds a personal touch. All three of these ornaments were contour fused to keep some texture. And remember, like any recipe you don't have to make it the exact same way. Have fun with it!
