Making a DIY stained glass Christmas ornament may be easier to make than you think. This technique uses epoxy resin for a long-lasting ornament that is fairly simple to create. I am using a Christmas tree on mine and have the template below that you can print at home. You can, however, use any design you would like once you learn this technique.
Handmade Christmas ornaments make great gifts for parents, grandparents, and relatives. You can use whatever colors you prefer and even customize the ornament with a name or short message.
How to Make a DIY Stained Glass Christmas Ornament
Supplies needed to make this DIY stained glass Christmas ornament:
Some links below may be affiliate links which means that you do not pay anymore, however, a portion of your purchase will go to this site.
- Glass ornament base
- EnviroTex Lite Pour-On High Gloss Finish
- Stained Glass Leading Dimensional Paint
- CastinCraft Opaque Pigments in Brown, Green, White, and Opalescent
- Mixing Cups
- Measuring Cups
- Stir Sticks
- Toothpicks
- Free Tree Template
- Ribbon
What is the difference in the pigments?
I have the opaque pigments in the supply list but wanted to talk a bit about the differences in case you were wondering. I tested a few different transparent and opaque pigments to decide which would work best for my project. As you can see below, the transparent pigments are see through while the opaque gives a more colorful appearance. I really loved the look of the Opalescent pigment which I thought I could make look like snow.
Making DIY stained glass:
Print out the tree template to the size of your glass ornament. Then just lay your ornament on top of the template.
Trace around the outer edge as well as the hole for the hanger with the faux leading paint. As you can see, this is a dimensional paint and it sticks up on top of the glass. Just be sure that there are no gaps when using this product as it will be like a dam for our resin.
You will also want to trace that tree and I filled the entire star in with the leading. This will need to dry overnight before continuing.
Then mix up your EnviroTex Lite Pour On High Gloss Finish
and add it to several small cups. Tint each one with the pigment colors of your choice. Be sure to keep some mixed resin with no tint at all.
Start dripping the resin into place on your ornament. Be sure not to fill the areas too full and allow them to spill over. You can use toothpicks to push the resin around and make sure it gets into all of the corners.
For the tree, I added clear resin then put on a few drops of green and white.
I then swirled them with a toothpick to give it a marbled look.
Then add resin that has been tinted with the Opalescent pigment to the rest of the ornament. This dries looking a bit like snow with a glittering that I love. Remove any bubbles that come to the surface.
Set everything aside and allow it to dry flat overnight. Then you have a DIY stained glass Christmas ornament to add to your tree!
Now that you know how easy this technique is, what else will you make?
You can see the shimmer of the Opalescent pigment a little better in the image below. It looks great right? Grab your supplies and try your hand at DIY stained glass today!
Love this DIY stained glass and want more ideas? Try the links below!
- Baby’s First Christmas Ornament
- Rustic Christmas Ornaments from Wood Spools
- How to Make Christmas Ornaments from Clay
- Red Truck with Christmas Tree Ornament
- Homemade Christmas Ornaments
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Equipment
- Glass ornament base
- Stir Sticks
- Toothpicks
- Ribbon
Supplies
- EnviroTex Lite Pour On High Gloss Finish
- Stained Glass Leading Dimensional Paint
- CastinCraft Opaque Pigments in Brown Green, White, and Opalescent
- Free Tree Template
Instructions
- Print out the tree template to the size of your glass ornament. Lay your ornament on top of the template.
- Trace around the outer edge as well as the hole for the hanger with the faux leading paint. (This is a dimensional paint and it sticks up on top of the glass. Just be sure that there are no gaps when using this product as it will be like a dam for our resin.)
- Trace the tree and fill in the entire star in with the leading paint. Allow to dry overnight before continuing.
- After drying, mix up the EnviroTex Lite Pour On High Gloss Finish and add it to several small cups. Tint each one with the pigment colors of your choice. Be sure to keep some mixed resin with no tint at all.
- Start dripping the resin into place on your ornament. Be sure not to fill the areas too full and allow them to spill over. You can use toothpicks to push the resin around and make sure it gets into all of the corners.
- For the tree, I added clear resin then put on a few drops of green and white. Then, I swirled them with a toothpick to give it a marbled look.
- Add the tinted resin with the Opalescent pigment to the rest of the ornament. This dries looking a bit like snow with a glittering that I love. Remove any bubbles that come to the surface.
- Set everything aside and allow it to dry flat overnight. Then you have a DIY stained glass Christmas ornament to add to your tree!
what is the base ornament made from or where do you get them?
Thanks for reaching out. I updated the post to include a link to the ornaments.