DIY Indigo Marbled Ornaments
Learn how to make these DIY Indigo Marbled Ornaments this holiday season!
Here’s the thing, I’ve never marbled with nail polish. Sara is the queen of marbling with nail polish, especially dark blue, otherwise known as our obsession – indigo. She famously marbled Easter eggs and then this year, marbled the cutest little white pumpkins.
So, of course, we were going to marble with dark blue nail polish this year. She said she’d make our DIY Indigo Marbled Ornaments since she’s a pro. Then the poor thing got the flu. So Calla, my seven year old, and I took on the project this weekend. And you guys, it was so easy!
Quick & Easy Ornaments
It really took us five minutes to do a dozen ornaments. I’m pretty proud of of our marbled ornaments. They look so beautiful on the tree.
Although marbling is a bit addictive… I’m looking around my studio wondering what I should marble next…
If you would like see a video of marbling, check this one out. This shows how we made marbled Easter Eggs using multiple colors of nail polish.
Read more the full tutorial…
DIY Indigo Marbled Ornaments Supplies
stir stick
nail polish remover
wax paper
room temp water
Where to find plain white ornaments?
You can find plain white ornaments online (like amazon) or at craft stores and big box stores. See some of our favorites here:
How to make DIY Indigo Marbled Ornaments
Step 1: Fill plastic container 3/4 full with room temperature water. I used a 28 oz container.
And when I say room temp, I really mean that. If it’s too cold, the polish will sink, if it’s too warm, my polish seemed more sticky.
Tip:
Use a new bottle of nail polish. We tried some other colors that I had on stock and the older polish definitely did not work as well.
Step 2: Start to pour nail polish gently into the water. A little polish goes a long way. The more polish you put in the water, the more coverage your ornament gets.
Step 3. Lightly stir polish on the water with your stir stick to make a marble look in water.
Step 4. Dip the ornament under the water and swirl. Since the ornaments have a topper on them, you don’t necessarily have to wear gloves for this project. You can just hold the topper and dip. But when marbling things, like eggs, you should wear gloves.
Step 5. Dry the ornaments. You can lay the ornaments down on wax paper to dry or create a drying rack with foam and pins. We also used two crates and hung the ornaments from dowel rods, balancing the rods over the crates.
You can use any nail polish color you want, we just have an indigo obsession. You can also mix colors, which Calla loved trying when we were done with the blue. Can’t wait to see what you guys create! Happy Holidays!
We love making homemade Christmas ornaments and wanted to share some of our favorites!
Favorite DIY Christmas Ornaments
DIY Wood Bead Snowflake Ornament
photos by Melissa Fenlon. all rights reserved.
Stop it!!! They’re just too pretty!!! <3
Thanks, Marlene!
in love!!!!!!
I don’t know what happened to mine- definite fail. Polish sunk, floated up, then immediately got sticky- clumped to stir stick. How can it be too cold and too warm? Brand new polish
I am not sure why this happened… darn! Only put a few drops of polish at a time (per ornament).
These are STUNNING! Quite possibly my favorite holiday project I’ve seen so far this year. Love love love them!
Thanks, Cyd! We sure do love our indigo marbling! xo
These ornaments are beautiful. thank you for such a good tutorial.
I love these!
These are absolutely wonderful! Thanks for such good photos and directions.
Thanks so much!
These are beautiful. Where do you get white ornaments? Could you use silver?
Thanks so much for the ideas.
I found mini white ornaments at Walmart, but you can order them on Amazon – http://amzn.to/2gYKkhb
Feel free to try silver. We have found that white really helps the colors pop though. Happy Holidays!
Awesome but You keep referring to the ornaments as eggs….do you mean eggs or the ornaments? Just making. Sure it’s the right one
Great stuff!!
Ornaments 🙂 Sorry for the confusion, we were referring to our previous marbling tutorial with Easter eggs.
I love these but am not sure how to place them to dry without smudging them. Please advise. Thanks.
You can put them on wax paper to dry, mine didn’t smudge this way. But you can also put some pins in a styrofoam block and place the ornaments on the pins to dry. Have fun!
Wow. Really beautifull. Didn’t knew that nail polish give this touch. Amazing 🙂
Hi, Melissa!
How long does it take for these ornaments to dry? Does the drying time differ by color of polish? They’re really beautiful and a great idea for gifts. Thank you,
Diane Biasella
The drying time is dependent on the type of nail polish you use.
Do these need any kind of sealant so the polish doesn’t chip off?
You can certainly spray with a clear varnish.
Gorgeous! I have a silly question: how do you dispose of the water with the nail polish in it?
Not a silly question – any left over nail polish can be pushed to the side of the container, then pour out the water and trash the container. Or keep for future marbling projects.
The remaining nail polish (not much) can be gathering using a stir stick. Then the water can go down drain nail polish free.
Love these! Can’t wait to try myself. Thanks.
Can you push the polish to one side in a clump & lift out to reuse the water & container? Just wondering as have seen other sites similar to this
I reuse my container for other nail polish marbling projects indeed.
Will this work with plastic ornaments?
They should work!
I just did this with my three year old granddaughter. For safety reasons we used plastic ornaments. I also could not find white so we used silver. They turned out terrific!
These look amazing,I am going to try these.How long do they take to dry
We usually let ours dry overnight.
Is it okay to use plastic ornaments?
They should work fine!
Do you have to use a plastic container or could you use disposable aluminum pans?
The aluminum should work!
that is sooo cool!
This looks so amazing! I really want to try this for myself! One question – you list nail polish remover among the needed supplies, but I didn’t see a use for it in the directions. Is it for just in case you mess something up, or is there a specific use for it?
Thanks again for sharing this! 🙂
Great question – it is just in case you get a little nail polish all over your hands! Have fun.
These look stunning! Can’t wait to try it!
Wow, I really love these! I am thinking about getting white ornaments and marbling with silver nail polish just for a light effect since my tree will be all white this year.
That sounds beautiful!
Oh, wow. These are gorgeous.
I am going to try making these (I also have an indigo obsession).
Thank you for sharing!
Jess
You are going to love em!
Super cute! Made two indigo ones and two sparkly red ones for a gift to my mom. Super easy and super adorable! 🙂
Loved it they are so beautiful thanks
Beautiful job! Do they need to be sealed so the nail polish doesn’t chip off?
Hi there – we did not seal ours, but I am sure you could. Ours have not chipped, but if you are afraid of chipping, sealing is a good idea.
Where did you find white ornaments?
There is an (affiliate) link in the supplies portion of the blog post. We found the ornaments at amazon and big box crafts stores.
They look amazing! Would this work on plastic baubles?
I couldn’t find white so I got some clear plastic ones hopefully they will work also could you use two different colors ?
You could also pour white paint inside the clear bulb.
what did u use to seal them
We did not seal them, but you could spray a clear varnish once the nail polish dries.
Just wondering can this be done on clear ornaments if using more than one nail polish color? Also what kind of clear varnish?
Thanks
You can do it on clear, but the marbling won’t pop as much. You could also put white paint inside and swirl to fill with paint. The clear varnish is just a clear varnish spray paint from the craft or hardware store.
I love this idea! Can you confirm that the paint goes on the outside of the ornaments? I’ve seen some tutorials that instruct you to pour it inside the ball. Also, how much nail polish do you need to make a group of ornaments? Thank you!
The nail polish is on the OUTSIDE of the ornament. One bottle of nail polish is fine for (estimation) 20 large ornaments.
can you use the non breakable ornaments?
Yes indeed!
Do they have to be glass? Can you use the clear plastic balls?
they can be plastic/shatterproof!
HELLO 🙂 YOU DID AN AMAZING JOB. I WAS CURIOUS TO KNOW IF USING CLEAR BALLS WOULD TURN OUT OR DO U NEED A COLOR OF SOME SORT.? SORRY FOR CAPS!! LOL
The color pops more when you marble on a solid color. You could also pour paint inside of the clear ball then marble the outside.
How did you get the white color if you only used navy blue nail polish? Also would it be the same if you used plastic ornaments vs glass?
The ornaments are solid white. You can use glass or plastic!
Love this…I will be doing this next month
Do you have to add additional polish after you dip each one.
Yes, just a few drops.
Marbled nail polish ornaments are gorgeous!!
Has anyone tried this with a glitter nail polish? just wondering how that would work?
I have only tried glitter nail polish with other colors as well. Not sure how well the glitter polish would show the marbling if you only use one color of glitter polish.
Thank you – My granddaughter mentioned making these and whalla! here are the directions! You make it so easy, can’t wait to try it. Just a thot: could we put something on them that would disallow the polish to adhere – so we could write something, or paste a deer, or draw a church?
That is a good question – the only thing I can think of is plain tape over an area where you do not want the polish to adhere. Then when the ornament is dry, remove the tape.
How do you seal these after you’re done?
You do not need to seal – but you can always use a clear acrylic spray to seal.
I LOVE those ornaments. Did you start with ones that were already white? Or did you have to paint them white?
We started with white ornaments. We link to the ones we used in the post. Enjoy!
The ornaments we used were already white – but you could also spray paint ornaments white!
Can you use clear plastic ornaments or do you need to use glass?
I would recommend painting the clear ornaments white. You can also pour the wine paint inside.
These ornaments are so beautiful!!
Hi, these ornaments are beautiful. I have tried this for myself, but it needs some practice. Where do you use the nails polish remover on the supplylist for?
we use it for our fingers if we don’t wear gloves!
What color nail polish did you use? When I clicked the link it pulled up a black color.
I used the blue polish. Scroll thru the colors and you will see a navy blue option.