ornaments – Page 4 – Sherry Glaab

Second stage of ornaments

Today I finally got enough time to pour the resin on my next batch of ornaments. I prepped several a few days ago, but it takes a couple of uninterrupted hours to do the resin stage properly, and today was the day.

I had to cut and grind a few more pieces of glass for the red berries and the carrots for the snowmens’ noses. After that I was ready to pour the resin. It’s really more of a drizzle than a pour, then I spread it across the surface of the ornament with a sponge on a stick. After that, there is a lot of scraping of drips off of the backs of the glass. Any drips that I miss will require some sanding after the resin cures, but I really prefer to take a proactive approach and just remove the drips as the form whenever possible. I also use a heat gun at this point to remove bubbles.

How it looks when the resin is poured and spread.

Adding glass flakes for sparkle on the background.

Mistletoe decorated and curing, still gooey.

Tomorrow evening I should be able to get some better pictures of these!

Snowmen and Greenery

To make these snowman, tree and leafy ornaments, I start with white and green glass and cut it down until it is close to the shape I want. I then grind the pieces to smooth them and make them look more like the desired item (snowball, holly, mistletoe). It will be interesting to see how the texture of the green glass looks after I pour the resin. Past experience has shown me that the texture will be mostly lost once the resin is applied, but I haven’t tried it with this glass yet.

I like this green glass for evergreen leaves.

Here is a snowball in the making on my glass grinder. Yes, I do slice my fingertips while I grind the glass – I try to do a quick once around all the edges to minimize the damage to my fingers, but they still get a bit of wear and tear.

Rough Holly leaves before they have visited the grinder.

Laying out / gluing pieces for a snowman.

Once I have the larger pieces of glass ready, I glue them to the clear glass ornament bases. I glued the ornament hooks on the bases yesterday.

Glued down – tree, snowmen, holly and mistletoe.
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I will pour the resin and add the detailed accents and some more small glass pieces for red berries at the same time. I like to add crushed glass “snow” under the snowmen and trees, and clear glass flakes to the backgrounds. I might cut some red berries for the holly from glass (like I did for the mistletoe), as the red balls of glass I have might be too small in proportion to the leaves I cut. I was hoping to pour the resin for these today, but I just ran out of time.

More small things

I needed to finish the second snowman ornament I started yesterday and use up some leftover glass, so today I made some smaller ornaments with Cardinals and some greenery, plus a few resin ornaments.

Next I glued the hangers onto the base of the ornament.

Next I poured the resin, then added the glass chips and chunks for the snowy effect in the background. I always elevate the pieces on a silicone mold so I can wipe off drops while the resin cures. I have tried using painters tape around the edges of the back side, but it’s more trouble to me than doing this and I get better results.

Ornaments raised a bit off the work surface.

Close up view of the snowman ornament to show that it is raised off of the work surface.

I also poured the first layer and decorated a few more resin ornaments. I am using greenery from my yard and some store bought berries, as the ones from my yard don’t look as nice in the resin. Also some shells and beachy items.

First layer poured for two beach-y ornaments.

Making Ornaments

I’m trying to stock up on ornaments for my booth at the Charleston Holiday Market, which will be held at the North Charleston Convention Center November 8-10, 2019. I glued these winter scene glass ornaments yesterday and plan on pouring the resin and finishing the details today.

Here are a couple of snapshots after the resin was poured and decorated, but not yet cured. I have been making these with the rectangular background instead of the free shaped tree ornaments because the tree branches are pretty sharp. The rectangle keeps you from having to hold the pointy part of the tree glass. The one ornament with the blue background is an experiment – I’m trying to see if putting painters tape on the back is helpful in keeping the resin drips off the back. All of the others I have to keep wiping down the underside to keep drips from forming, and this is a very time consuming, sticky undertaking. I tried the tape once before and didn’t have much luck, but I thought I’d try again.

I also decided to make a couple of snowmen ornaments. I really love the trees, but variety is the spice of life, right?

The one on the left has its resin coating and glass chip decorations. The one on the right has to wait another day for its resin, as the glue that holds the hook in place is still drying.

Prepping for the Holidays

I haven’t been posting much, mostly because the dichroic window I’ve been working on has now been rethought as a sunset and it’s taking me some time to plan it. At the same time, I haven’t been doing much that is new and different, until this weekend. I decided to sign up for the Charleston Holiday Market at the N. Charleston Convention Center. It’s a big three day craft fair, held November 8-10. I usually do most of my holiday shopping at this event. This year, I’ll be a vendor!

When I was talking with another vendor at the N. Charleston Farmers Market about it last week, she suggested that I make some seasonal coasters for the event. So I decided to see what I can do. I haven’t used any really perishable / organic materials other than shells and beachy things, so plants are an expansion of my repertoire. I headed out into my yard and snipped some cheerful berries and greenery from my plants, then coated them with resin spray.

I then set about inserting my harvest into some coaster molds with resin. Hopefully they will turn out well – I read a few stories online of others’ experiences with plant based embedding and there were a lot of woeful tales of things turning brown. Fingers crossed that the resin spray helps deter that from happening. I even read that some folks use plain old hair spray instead of resin spray, which I may try when my supply of resin spray is depleted. I have two types of berries on hand, one from I believe a Pyracantha and some others from some Asparagus Fern in my yard.

Here are a couple of the first batch I made yesterday.

I like how the Boxwood looks, but it is very thick and difficult to keep small enough for the mold. I used some extra resin spray on the cypress greenery in the batches I did today to see if they hold their color any better.

Evergreen trees, part II

Today I poured the resin and decorated it for the evergreen tree suncatcher I started the other day. While I was at it, I made a small winter forest scene that has a similar feel. I wish I was better at taking pictures, but it is what it is. They both look much better in person. I will have them at my booth at the N. Charleston Farmers Market in Park Circle this Thursday from 3-7 pm.