What is painted on the balls
- Bands
- Stripes of snowflakes, triangles, polka dots, stars, waves, zigzags and diamonds.
- Swirls and festoons
- Curls, leaves, flowers, berries, hearts and festoons.
- Scenes
- A reindeer with snowflakes inside a glass ball, or a little house with a snowy roof, a wreath on the door and a chimney.
- Sets
- Six balls of different shapes on one sheet, nine in a grid, or three balls hanging from a fir branch with holly.
One sheet shows two children in hats carrying big ornaments through a garden.
From Lauscha to your desk
Glassblowers of Lauscha, in Thuringia (Germany), made glass Christmas ornaments from the mid-19th century. The printed ones here ask for much less than a furnace.
Treat each ball like a small canvas: choose a base color, then repeat it in the bands.
Many of the balls come with fir branches, so they pair well with a tree page.
Making the ball look round
- Color the whole ball in a light tone of its main color.
- Add a darker tone along one edge, always the same side across the page.
- Leave a small blank patch on the opposite side, for a highlight.
- Color the cap and the ring or ribbon in gold, silver or a bright contrast.
Metallic gel pens are good for the caps, though regular pencils work too.
Matching sets
- Pick three balls and color all of them with the same three colors in different proportions.
- Cut the finished balls out and hang them from a window with thread, at different heights.
- Choose a color for the cap that does not appear anywhere else on the ball.
- Color one ball per family member and write a name across the band.
A ball with a ribbon makes a good tag for a gift, and the stocking pages have more shapes to hang beside it.