This is the nitty gritty to covering those round glass ornaments in a 6 part pattern. You can do a Jester effect by alternating two colours or like I did by alternating two different pattern sheets.
Materials
- round glass ornament (mine are 2 1/4″ diameter)
- a sheet of clay, or several scraps of sheets, that equal about 7.5″ x 7.5″ and mid-thickness on your pasta machine. On mine, that’s 4. Try for at least two significantly different patterns or colours that work together
- a paper and pencil or a printer to do the template.
- pasta machine, knife, work surface, the usual
Making Your Template
The pattern to cover a sphere in six parts looks like the diagram below:
We’ll just go over quickly how to do one segment. Really, we need the shape minus the tip of it which gets cut off over the opening on the top of the ornament where the hanger is.
- To figure out the size of your template, we need to know the diameter (the width across) of your ornament. Mine are 2 1/4″. Multiply that by 3.14 or pi on your calculator. This gives you your circumference.
- The height of your template is one half of the circumference. In my case, that’s about 3.5″ Draw a line that long. Then mark the half way point or fold it in half.
- To make a template that covers the ornament in 6 parts, divide the circumference by 6. To make one that covers it in 8 or 5 or 12, divide it by 8 or 5 or 12. Divided by 6, I get about 1 3/16″. Approximate is fine, clay stretches. Mark a line that wide at the middle point.
- Draw an arc from point to point, crossing over the middle line. Repeat on the other side. Voila, template. Or, print mine (just the image) and enlarge or reduce it to be the height you need using your printer controls or a photocopier.
Covering the Ornament
Now we have the step-by-step photos for covering a glass ornament!
- Our ornament, on the stack of little cutouts from clay sheets.
- Lots of cut outs to be used on ornaments.
- Checking the top of the ornament, picking two starting spots across from each other.
- Laying the first cutout on. Lay it lightly since you’ll probably have to move it around.
- Placing the second, directly opposite, also lightly.
- The bottom view.
- Getting somewhere now.
- Ornament covered, yay!
- Smooth your seams, starting at the *bottom*, working your way up. Pop air bubbles and brush the edges. Finally, trim the overlap at the top.
- One of the cleaned up ornaments.
- I stuck a thin little button of clay on the bottom to cover up my messy joins. You could texture it or decorate it.
Finishing
Bake, remembering that the sheets of clay are not very thick, this won’t take long, and make sure not to toss into ice water. Sand, polish and varnish as usual. Here’s an idea for a rack I made for larger items to help with drying or baking.
The Video Version
I made a video of this project! Have a peek!