These personalised gilded Christmas baubles make a beautiful gift for anyone and are easy to make and look stunning when done. I used them as part of the table decoration on Christmas day for our guests.
I purchased the blank ceramic baubles from Hobbycraft, and first painted them with white acrylic paint. The colour of the bare baubles is slightly off-white and they feel a bit rough, painting them white gave a more crisp finish. Wait for them to dry, I did a second coat.
A good tip is to cut an empty loo roll into inch strips then you can stand the baubles on them to paint and dry.
How to use the gilding glue and leaves
I used Gedeo Gilding Leaves* and Pebeo Gilding Glue* for the gilding. This was my first time doing gilding and although quite messy, it was really simple.
You apply the gilding glue to the area you want to attach the gilding leaf to, leave it for 15 minutes, it then goes tacky. Again use the cut-up toilet roll to sit the baubles in after you’ve applied the gilding glue to leave to go tacky.
The gilding leaves are very thin and delicate, they are separated by paper sheets so it’s easy to just pick one up. They tear easily but you don’t need to use complete pieces so don’t worry if they do tear.
Apply the sheet to where the glue is, the gilding leaves will only stick to the tacky area. Smooth down with your hand, or I used a clean makeup brush.
Check for any gaps and apply more pieces of the leaf until you are happy with the finish.
Personalising the gilded baubles
Once I had all the gilding on the baubles I then moved on to the personalisation of each. I used my Silhouette Cameo 4* and Cricut silver shimmer vinyl to add the names onto the baubles.
I then added some silver ribbon for them to be hung up with.
Then when I set the table on Christmas day everyone had a bauble with their name for the place setting, I added a little hat to each too.
This added to the personalised etch glass I made for everyone too.
I really enjoyed doing the gilding, it is so effective when done.
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