Have a ball in your garden

Hands-on time: A couple of hours.
Total time: Allow 24 hours for the glass paints to dry and set.
Skill: Moderate.
Cost estimate: Less than $6.00 per garden ball.

Materials & Tools

• Glass balls or globes in assorted sizes (the kind used to make Christmas ornaments)
• Newspapers
• Paper towels
• Vitrea 160 or Porcelain 150 (by Pébéo) glass paints in assorted colours
• Acrylic paints and clear varnish (to paint the bamboo sticks), if desired
• Paper cups (to use as stands while painting the balls)
• Decorative craft wire and beads in assorted colours and sizes (optional)
• Wire cutters
• Pliers
• Bamboo garden sticks or floral sticks in gold with prongs to stick in the garden (the kind used in floral or wedding arrangements)
• Double-faced tape or tick tack
• Small screws and screwdriver
• Putty Epoxy (available at hardware stores)

Add a little cachet to your outdoor space with whimsical garden-ball ornaments in vibrant colours. You can achieve the look of hand-blown glass by painting the inside or the outside of plain glass balls and letting the glass paints mix and swirl into a dazzling medley of colours.

Remove the metal cap from the glass ball. Clean the exterior of the ball thoroughly. Remove any labels and wipe with rubbing alcohol to prepare the surface. Make sure the interior of the ball is completely dry before starting this project.

Cover your work area with newspapers. Choose three or four colours of Vitrea 160 or Porcelain 150 paints and fill an applicator bottle for each colour to be used.

To paint the interior of a ball, place the ball on a cup or on a muffin tray if you are doing several balls at a time with the opening facing up. While holding the ball in one hand, squirt a few drops (not too much) of a colour in the middle and along the sides of the interior of a ball. Let the ball sit for a few minutes on the cup or tray to allow the paint to run down along the sides of the interior of the ball. Turn the ball upside down and place it back on the cup to allow excess paint to flow out. Repeat these steps for each added colour. Gently swirl the ball in your hand to make the colours overlap.

To paint the exterior of a ball, paint one ball at a time and then hang it up onto a wire ornament stand, some of the paints will drip onto the newspapers. Apply one colour at a time. Squirt a few drops of a paint colour in the middle and along the exterior sides of a ball. Repeat steps for each additional colour applied.

Use accent colours such as copper, silver or darker shades last. Watch the colours blend into each other. Once all your colours are added, you can twirl the ball from side to side to add extra swirl effects. The colours can continue to blend until the paints are fully dry.

Let the paint dry and set for 24 hours for balls that are painted only on the exterior. Balls that are painted on the interior will take a few more days to dry completely. Place the balls in a cooled oven and bake to set the paints as per the manufacture's instructions. Once baked, remove from the oven with gloves and let them cool on a rack.

Cut bamboo sticks to desired lengths. Paint them with regular acrylic craft paints and let dry. Add a varnish top coat if desired. Place a screw onto the inside of the metal cap that comes with the glass ball, and screw it into an end of the bamboo stick.

Mix the putty according to directions. Place the ball over the cap and add putty around the cap and bamboo stick to secure them together. The putty will harden in about 10 minutes, and takes an hour to cure. It then can be painted with acrylic paint if desired.

Adorn the top of the stem with decorative wire and beads.

Tips

• Do not let this project dry in the sun or expose it to the sun before the paint has thoroughly set.

Variations

• A metal stand with a small holder at the top can be used instead of bamboo sticks. They are available at some craft stores and florists. Insert some putty and then the ball into the holder.
• Use the techniques described above to make friendship balls that can hang in kitchen or bathroom windows. Or you can get an early start on your holiday gifts or decorations, and make tree ornaments with holiday colours.