DIY Christmas Ornaments with Gold Marble

These DIY Christmas ornaments are so beautiful, with their vibrant paint and lush gold marble. They’re easy to make and a perfect holiday craft idea. Read on for the quick tutorial!

From your lips, to my ears! Back when we asked what kind of holiday projects would be useful to you this year, DIY ornaments was a major topic! You wanted some simple Christmas ornament gift ideas, so we came up with these gold marbled ornaments.

They’re beautiful but so simple to put together, and would make pretty presents for your family and friends. We chose a vibrant emerald green shade, but they’d be lovely in any color! (I’m thinking my next batch might be pink…)

Psst — if you like this DIY Christmas ornament idea, you’re gonna love these:

• Easy Paint Swirl Ornaments
• Christmas Craft Idea // Pom Pom Ornaments for Kids
• DIY Rhinestone Christmas Ornaments
• DIY Christmas Ornaments Made with Cement
• How to Make a Pom Pom Christmas Ornament
• Modern Salt Dough Ornaments (And How to Whiten Salt Dough!)

And be sure to sign up below for my VIP group, where I’ll send my very best holiday crafts and ideas straight to ya.

How to Make DIY Christmas Ornaments

Materials

• clear glass ornaments
• spray paint
• liquid gilding
• disposable plastic tub
• toothpicks

Make Time: 30 Minutes (Plus Drying Time)

This tutorial has great images to reference for the project!

1. Remove the metal top from all ornaments. In a well-ventilated area, spray paint the exterior of your glass ornaments. This may take a few thin coats, allowing each coat to dry in between spraying. Allow the final coat to dry completely before moving on to the next step.
2. Prepare your marbling bath. Fill a disposable container with room-temperature water, leaving enough space in the container to submerge an ornament and not have the water overflow.
3. Use a toothpick to drip a few drops of liquid gilding onto the surface of the water. We recommend dropping it from just an inch or so above the water, so that it doesn’t sink all the way to the bottom. You want the drops to rest on the surface.
4. Use a toothpick to swirl the liquid gilding into a marble pattern on the surface of the water.
5. Dip the surface of an ornament onto the surface of the water and gently roll it around. The gold will start to stick to the ornament.
6. Continue to roll the ornament until it’s picked up all the gold. Repeat Steps 3-6 until you are happy with the amount of gold on the surface of the ornament.
7. Allow the gilding to dry before replacing the metal hook on the top of the DIY Christmas ornament.

Substitutions to Try

If you don’t have some of these supplies on hand, there are some great substitutions to try!

• You could try the entire project using nail polish. Paint an ornament with polish and let it dry. Then drizzle a different color of polish on the water in the same way you would the gold paint. Use the same rolling and dipping technique to create the marbling!
• You can also paint your ornaments with acrylic paint, or to a swirl technique like this.
• Try marbling with colors other than gold!

Gift Ideas For Your Ornaments

Just too pretty, right? I’m loving how these DIY Christmas ornaments turned out, and the emerald-gold combo is really doing it for me.

These are a perfect project to make in large batches as well, so have yourself a Christmas crafternoon and make them for everyone you know!

When I’m giving DIY Christmas ornaments as gifts, I love to just attach a pretty tag and bow right to the ornament hook for easy wrapping. Or you could use these as a gift topper on another gift box.

If you try them out be sure to share a photo with us. Happy making! xoxo

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DIY Christmas Ornaments with Gold Marble

Yield: DIY Christmas Ornaments

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $15

These DIY Christmas ornaments are so beautiful, with their vibrant paint and lush gold marble. They're easy to make and a perfect holiday craft idea.

Print

Materials

• clear glass ornaments
• spray paint
• liquid gilding

Tools

• clear plastic tub
• toothpicks

Instructions

1. Remove the metal top from all ornaments. In a well-ventilated area, spray paint the exterior of your glass ornaments. This may take a few thin coats, allowing each coat to dry in between spraying. Allow the final coat to dry completely before moving on to the next step.
2. Prepare your marbling bath. Fill a disposable container with room-temperature water, leaving enough space in the container to submerge an ornament and not have the water overflow.
3. Use a toothpick to drip a few drops of liquid gilding onto the surface of the water. We recommend dropping it from just an inch or so above the water, so that it doesn't sink all the way to the bottom. You want the drops to rest on the surface.
4. Use a toothpick to swirl the liquid gilding into a marble pattern on the surface of the water.
5. Dip the surface of an ornament onto the surface of the water and gently roll it around. The gold will start to stick to the ornament.
6. Continue to roll the ornament until it's picked up all the gold. Repeat Steps 3-6 until you are happy with the amount of gold on the surface of the ornament.
7. Allow the gilding to dry before replacing the metal hook on the top of the DIY Christmas ornament.

Notes

If you don't have some of these supplies on hand, there are some great substitutions to try!

You could try the entire project using nail polish. Paint an ornament with polish and let it dry. Then drizzle a different color of polish on the water in the same way you would the gold paint. Use the same rolling and dipping technique to create the marbling!

• You can also paint your ornaments with acrylic paint, or to a swirl technique like this.
• Try marbling with colors other than gold!