DIY Marbleized Christmas Ornaments

I’m so excited about today’s post that’s a fun (and super easy) tutorial for making DIY Marbleized Christmas ornaments that look like marble stone and granite. This is a great Christmas craft project that can be done with virtually any color combinations and did I mention they are so fun (addicting) to make?

 

I’m excited to be teaming up today for this project with Testors paints.  If you have followed me over the years, then you probably know that I LOVE Testors and have shared many blog projects using their amazing enamel and acrylic paints over the years.  I use these paints for just about everything because they are thicker than traditional craft paint and the colors/pigmentation are just vibrant and beautiful.

A few weeks ago, I ran across marble stone and granite rock Christmas ball ornaments at a high-end home decor store that were crazy expensive ($85.00 for a set or four).  As I looked at them closely, I realized that with a little playing and testing, I could make similar stone/marble looking ones for next to nothing.  I was able to figure out the technique and I can’t wait for you guys to see just how easy this is!

If you want to do this project, it does take a little practice getting the paint ratio/technique down, so it works best to practice first on small plastic ornaments from the dollar store to get a feel for getting the results you want because it takes a couple practice rounds to see how the paint works and melds together.  I’m walking you through each step below and as you practice, you will begin to see how you can control the paint. Also, I used a mix of clear plastic and glass and once the ornaments are done, you can’t tell the difference between plastic or glass. I prefer the plastic ones from the dollar store because they’re cheaper and won’t break.

 

You may have noticed in my images that I painted the metal toppers/holders at the top gold.  If you want to paint yours as well, I used Testors gold enamel.  Be sure and read past the tutorial below as I am sharing tips for getting more gold in your ornament and how to get a more granite/molten rock look.

If you want to simply marbleize your ornaments (not marble stone), you can follow the tutorial below and I will tell you when to skip a step to get a more marbleized look like this below:

 

Here’s the supply list to make the marble ornaments:

Supplies:

Clear plastic or glass ball ornaments
Small Dixie Cups 
Testors Craft Acrylic Paint 
Long wood skewers (you can get a bag of these at dollar store)
Paper Towels

Most of the supplies you can get at a dollar store except the paint. You can find Testors Craft paint at your local craft store or at Walmart.  You can also order the paint on Walmart.com here.  I prefer Testors Craft paints because they are thicker with a deeper pigmentation than most craft paints, which is ideal when marbleizing ornaments. You do not need silicone or marbling medium to marbleize with these paints.

Step #1       Choose Paint Colors

Begin by choosing 2-4 acrylic colors that you want to use. If you want a true marble look like I did for marble stone, you will want white, black, light gray and gold  (I mixed together black and white to make a light gray).

Keep in mind that a little of the dark colors go a long way, so if you want white or lighter colored ornaments, use a very small amount of dark colors.  To make the marble stone ornament, I mix a very small amount of black with white to make a lighter gray, so I actually used four colors to make the marble stone looking ornaments.

Step #2     Prepare Supplies

Remove the metal holder off of your ornaments and shake all of your paint and place the ornament on the top of your cup like this:

You will need to work very quickly once you start pouring your paint, so make sure that your paint is ready and you have your wood skewer and paper towels next to you just in case you have a spill.

Step #3    Pour Paint Into Ornament

Begin by quickly pouring your different colors into the ornament. You’re going to want a good amount of paint (for small ornaments, I would say you will want roughly 3 tablespoons of paint to get started.  Again, to make the marble stone ornament, you will want a MINIMUM of 90% white to the other colors.

As you begin pouring, you will want the paint to go down to the center bottom of the ornament and away from the sides.

Step #4    Marble Paint With Skewer

As soon as you finish pouring, immediately begin to gently swirl the paint with your wood skewer. You do not want to mix the colors but rather gently swirl to get that marbleized look and be sure and make sure you swirl scraping the bottom, so your first color doesn’t settle in the bottom.

Step #5   Swirl Paint on Sides  

Next, begin swirling your paint up and around the sides like this:

 

As you swirl, the paint will appear to stop moving before its covered all of the sides. Do not worry! This is what it’s suppose to do and because this paint is so thick, you will need to turn it over onto your cup even though the sides are not covered.  The paint will cover as it very slowly runs out. Let the paint run out for about 5-7 minutes and then turn the ornament upright on the cup for another 5-7 minutes (you will notice that the veining and pattern will continue to spread because of gravity).

Your ornament will look something like this after the 15 minutes of sitting on cup (up and down):

Step #6   Add Drops of Water

If you are not looking for the marble stone look but would rather have a true marbleized look, skip this step and do not add water and rest your ornament on cup with opening straight up. Move on to “Step 7”

After your ornament has sat face down and then upright in your cup for a combined total of about 15 minutes, you will want to now add about 2-3 drops of water and cover the top opening with your thumb and swirl and swish for about 5 minutes. You don’t want too much water because you will loose marble veining and colors will blend together. After swirling, shaking and swishing (sounds like a dance!) you should begin to slowly see the boldness of the pattern beginning to blend. This is what it will start to look like:

When you get close to your desired look, turn the ornament over onto the cup to let the water run out for only about 3 minutes and then place your ornament straight up to dry. Your pattern will still move a little but if you rest it straight up (instead of opening down in cup), your pattern will move less than facing straight down. The majority of the paint/water will be out in the 3 minutes down.

Step #7      Drying

Allow your ornament to sit and dry overnight and do not replace the metal cap/holder until the next day after it’s completely dry.

 

Helpful Hints

1. If you want that splatter gold look that I have in a couple of the ornaments pictured, I did that with Testors enamel paint first.  Testors enamel metallics and gold are so vibrant and looks just like gold/metallic leaf, which really looks amazing mixed with the white.  However, you cannot mix enamels and acrylic paint at the same time so I splattered a small amount of the enamel gold first (using a straw) and I allowed it to dry about 3 hours before marbling with acrylic paints. You can do this with any color enamel first if you want a more granite/molten rock look.  Make sure you shake the  enamels really well before you do this!

2. If you want a more splatter/speckled looking marble ornament, splatter your ornament first with black (or any other color) using a straw a very small amount of paint so it speckles and doesn’t run.  Allow it to dry for about two hours before going into Step #1 above.

3. If you do not want a marble stone look but want a more patchy colored ornament, pour your colors down the side of the ornaments (different color on different sides) and don’t swirl your ornament as much.

4. Don’t forget, you can do solid colored ornaments as well and Testors enamels are the best for painting ornaments on the outside and works great on plastic or glass. Here are a couple fun ones I did:

 

The possibilities are endless!!

 

If you want to see more creative Christmas paint projects using Testors, check out my post from last year here for updating old and tired Christmas decor.

Thanks for stopping by today friends a big thank you to Testors for partnering with me today!

Cheers!

Cyndy

Today’s post is sponsored by Testors.  All opinions are my own.