One year for Christmas, my husband gave me Christmas dinnerware themed ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas” along with this set of glass ornaments. This little maid-a-milking is one of my favorites. They were so beautifully detailed I didn’t want to just hang them on the Christmas tree to mix and blend in with all the other ornaments.
So I snipped some sturdy twigs from outside that had nice branching growth, in order to be able hold a few ornaments on each one, and spray painted them metallic gold. Several coats, so no wood shows through.
I had this pressed tin pot left over from a Valentine’s Day gift that actually looked great with these ornaments so after the paint was totally dry on the branches, I mixed up some ‘plaster of paris’ and poured it in the bottom of the tin, then pushed the branches into the wet plaster and held them with rubberbands and tape and anything I could prop up next to the branches to hold them until the plaster dried.
Once the plaster dried I nestled some green excelsior (that’s a fancy name for wood shavings) around the base of the branches to cover up plaster. The plaster of paris weighs down the pot too, so it’s not at all tippy.
It’s the combination of the rustic twigs and excelsior juxtaposed with the delicate details of the glass ornaments and gilded finish that I find so interesting.
Now these ornaments have a place to hang for all the days of Christmas with a custom twig arrangement and it will last for many years to come.
Share Your Thoughts