DIY: Hand Painted Ceramic Ornaments

I’ve been busy this week preparing for the Holiday Bazaar I’m participating in this weekend. In addition to holiday prints and ceramics I made a few ornaments to sell as well. I made ceramic state ornaments (similar to these) at my local clay studio in addition to the hand painted baubles below.

I spied these shapely bisque ceramic ornaments online and couldn’t wait to get creative with them. I painted a dozen abstract and botanical motif ornaments with them to sell at the market this weekend. Here’s a glimpse of a few I’ve completed so far.

If you’d like to make some for yourself or for friends, buy a dozen of these matte ceramic ornaments and get creative!

I used my stash of paints, glitter, and leftover gold leaf to make these, then added chiffon ribbon to finish them off.

I really like the matte finish and shape of these ceramic ornaments but ‘tis the season to add sparkle and bling. This can be done in a few different ways, with glitter, gold or silver leaf, metallic paint, or a combination which is what I did.

Start by adding any pattern or colors you like, I did a variety of abstract strokes using acrylic paints:

One technique that works really well is to paint on craft glue in small strokes then sprinkle loose glitter on top:

Hand applied metallic paint adds a little bit of glimmer but glitter glue adds more:

Finally, you can paint on craft glue then apply gold leaf in small strips. I’ve found in the past that working with gold leaf sheets takes patience because of the fine flakey material, but the shine you get from gold leaf is so nice.

I’m making a video that I’ll share on Reels on how these came together. The colors and patterns are just what flowed in the moment for me.