Handmade Ornaments

 I have a love for ornaments.  I always have.  Every year I take my girls to buy a new ornament, and every year when we decorate our tree it is so wonderful to see all those memories.   I played around last year at the last minute with a couple of ornament designs in metal.  This year I started a little earlier and was able to offer these ornaments for sale in my shop!

The Dala Horse in copper was my first.  I was thrilled with the way it turned out and shared it on my Facebook page.  My Brother-in-Law asked if I could make an owl, and that's how this next one came to be:

 Each ornament begins as a piece of sheet metal.  I saw the shape, file the edges.  Stamp the entire design by hand.  Each impression you see is a single stamp.  Laid down one at a time.  I finish by sanding, oxidizing, polishing, soldering on a ring for hanging and sealing the metal to help maintain the color.  Last I put on a Sari Silk hanger.

A friend asked me to make two right away, and I honestly thought that would be the extent of my ornament making for this season.  Other than the ones I had planned to make for gifts.......  Fortunately Etsy shoppers have found my little ornaments and have been keeping me very busy for the last week.   :)

Now I wish I had started earlier in the season, and had taken the time to develop more design choices.  That's ok!  I'll get a jump on next year after the busy season is over.  :)

These ornaments can be found in my online shop and in my Etsy shop.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  :)

This blog post is a part of  Art Bead Scene's Blog Hop featuring handmade ornaments!  Hop on over to view other handmade ornaments.

Also, my Dala Horse ornament has been featured in an article on Babble.com which I was pretty excited about!