A fun kids craft that creates the loveliest Christmas decorations ever? A very simple reverse painting on glass of Christmas bulbs. You can certainly use any design, for any holiday you can think of. A jack-o-lantern for Halloween, stars and stripes for the 4th of July, any pattern you can think of is fine. But for now, let’s work with the Christmas bulb pattern.
Here is a list of things needed to complete a small painting;
1) A small photo frame with a piece of glass. I found them at the local dollar store.
2) A piece of plexiglass to replace the glass. I bought this for just over a dollar at the local hardware store.
3) A set of acrylic paints in various colors. They were in the craft section at Wall Mart.
4) Small, cheap craft paintbrushes are also in the craft section of Wall Mart for just over a dollar.
5) A pencil-sized stick of wood or bamboo that can be sharpened in a pencil sharpener or utility knife.
6) Three cans of spray paint, one white, one dark blue or green, and one black. You’ll only be using a small amount of spray paint, so if you have a few nearly empty cans in the shed, it’ll work just fine.
Now the acrylic paint set I got was small. There were twelve colors in half-ounce containers. Actually that’s just a guess on my part, it may have been a smaller container, but my point is that one set of paint lasted more than ten of the paints done in different colors.
In an effort to make reverse glass painting a little less scary, start by drawing your pattern on a sheet of paper the same size as the glass you’re painting on. If you’re having trouble keeping the light bulbs symmetrical, simply fold a piece of paper in half and draw only one side of the light bulb on the paper. Fold the paper in half in the center of the bulb and cut along the line you made with the scissors. Now open the fold and there you have the bulbs. Trace the light bulb onto the paper you are going to work with. A three spotlight arrangement works very well in small frames, so have one spotlight upright in the drawing, one spotlight lying down, and one spotlight at an angle. Now that you have the basic pattern, tape it to the side of the glass you’re not going to paint, so you can see it clearly from the other side.
Begin the painting by outlining the light bulb further away from your painting hand. Any color you choose is good. Take a second brush, filled with white paint, and paint in the middle of the bulb. If you’re going to be working on this for about twenty minutes, leave the brush with the white paint out; you will use it again. Simply place it on a paper towel. Using the brush you started painting with, blend your color into the white around the edges. Allow the brush to blend the color into the white almost to the edge of the bulb. Save the screw base of the bulb for later. Clean the brush with warm water and dry it with a paper towel. Continue in the same way with the other two bulbs, in whatever color you think will look good. When all three bulbs are painted, rinse the two brushes and dry them. Take a break that is long enough to let the paint dry. Forty minutes is usually enough for acrylic paints to dry.
Now, for the threaded base of each of the bulbs, you’ll paint black paint on the glass using the pointed stick you made. I use a bamboo grilling spit for this part. Draw the base wires for the bulbs, one bulb at a time, starting with the bulb furthest from your painting hand. Rinse the stick under warm water and wipe it clean with the paper towel. It’s really best to give it a little time to dry as well, but if you’re totally into this project, like I am, you can go ahead, being careful not to let the paints mix yet. The next step is to put some white lines between the black ones with the same wooden stick that you used for the black threads of the light bulb bases. Now it really needs to dry, so clean the wooden stick again.
Using a brush and the gray paint, lay out the rest of the base for each bulb. If you put the paint on fairly thin, it shouldn’t need time to dry before the next step. To avoid aerosol fumes, go out with the can of white spray paint and give each of the three bulbs a very light, quick spray of white paint. This paint dries very quickly, so it will only take a minute before you can go back out and spray the dark blue or dark green paint around the center of the backing paint on the glass. This should be a very light coat of paint. If necessary, that color can be repeated for a second coat of paint. After it dries for a minute or two, the back of the paint, which is the side you are painting on, can be painted with the black spray paint. It may also be necessary to repeat this step. Remove the ribbon and paper from the glass, and on the paper side of the glass is a beautiful Christmas decoration.
These light bulbs that you have painted can also be a creative and inexpensive way to decorate the windows of your home. Just string a string of them along the top edge of the window, and maybe even on each side of the window. They can be easily removed after the holidays with a razor blade. These were also found at the local dollar store. So get to work, if you’re up for it, and Happy Painting!
copyright 2008 Sally Tagliere