I love wood slice ornaments. The moment I saw these popping up on Instagram last year, I was in love. The only problem was I have exactly zero tools to make said wood slices. Thankfully, though, I’ve spotted plain wood slice ornaments everywhere this year. Which means . . . of course I had to buy a bunch! They make great teacher’s gifts, mini-gifts for neighbors, and if you’re extra fancy, they also make beautiful gift tags.
Thankfully, these little wood slice ornaments are super easy to work with. At the very minimum, if you have some white paint and a Sharpie, you’re set. So let’s get started!
Wood Slice Ornaments
You will need:
Wood slice ornaments (find them at the craft store or here on Amazon)
White gesso or white acrylic paint
Paint brush
Pencil
Permanent black marker
Decoupage or white glue to seal
First, you’ll need to think about what you want to write or draw on your wood slice ornaments. Take a moment to sketch out a few ideas.
You might have to wipe the ornaments off—I just brushed them off with a towel to make sure the gesso would adhere properly to the wood.
Paint a circle of gesso onto the wood. Your circle does not have to be perfect. I also tried using white paint for this and it does work but gesso works better. Let the gesso completely dry before going to the next step.
Draw your design onto the ornament in pencil (if needed) and then ink the design with a waterproof pen or marker. Please, please make sure your writing utensil of choice is waterproof. It would be so sad to carefully letter your message and then schmear it in the next step when you try to seal it.
Wait for the pen ink to dry and then erase the pencil marks. Paint a layer of decoupage glue or regular white glue over the design. Let this dry, and then paint one of more layer of glue. It will go on white and dry clear.
Experiment with different pen thicknesses and have FUN! I made a ton of these for family and friends this year (though I’m not sharing the main design I made because it’s a secret. :))
If you make a lot of them, by the time you paint the last ornament, the first one will most likely be dry and ready for the next step. Put on the Christmas music, and have fun making these wood slice ornaments!
