As you may already know, this Fall, I’m putting together a Dinner Party to Honor Witches and Their Craft. So, little by little I’ve been working on projects, like the Rune Stone Wine Charms, the Moon Phase Charger Plates, or the Magick Spell Napkins to bring the overall look together. I thought … you can’t have a table for witches without crystal balls, so I decided to make a handful of them to use as a part of the table centerpieces!
Crystal Balls are common fortune telling objects associated with the act of scrying or seeing in which images are “seen” in crystals or other transparent bodies, and then interpreted. Actual crystal balls can be a bit pricey, especially when you want a handful to cover a table. For my purposes, I needed to create crystal balls purely for decoration, not necessarily scrying, so I gave myself some leeway on the true transparent gazing nature of each ball. With that in mind, there are some surprisingly easy ways to achieve a crystal ball look.
As I began playing with different methods to select one for my table, I realized they all looked good. So, instead of one tutorial, I bring you 5 Ideas to Create Easy DIY Crystal Balls. You can choose which one or ones fit best with your decor.
Let me start by talking about the base of the ball. To me, this is what makes or breaks the look. We have all seen those cheap looking Crystal Balls on plastic bases sold in the Halloween aisles of stores… I loathe plastic Halloween decorations, so those will NOT be on my table! Instead, I chose to depend on my thrift shopping-garage sailing-antique picking talents, and collect bases that looked a bit more authentic. Think Victorian, think Old World, think Gothic.
I gathered a group of bases that ranged from candle holders, to decanter bases, to stands for serving bowls. I was especially drawn to heavy iron ones, regardless of finish. You’d be surprised how many pieces you find while treasure hunting that can be used for a project like this. It’s all about keeping your eyes AND mind open. Not everything has to be used for its original purpose. I admit, this may require some advanced planning. The chances of you running out tomorrow and finding several amazing bases in your local charity shop or at your neighbor’s garage sale is possible, but probably not likely. In other words.. from this point forward, keep your eyes peeled for anything that may work as a crystal ball base.
As for the Crystal Balls, I used 4″ round glass Christmas ornaments for all 5 styles. Do not skimp and buy plastic ornaments. I know they’re cheaper. I know they’re more readily available, but they will not look as good. Besides not taking the paint as well, they also tend to have seams which is a dead giveaway that you have plastic balls on your table!
I’ll start with the most basic, and work my way to the most complex. But don’t worry – even the most complex is still crazy easy:
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Style 1 – Iridescent
Supplies:
1. Pop the hanging apparatus off. yeah – that’s it.
These iridescent balls are beautiful as is. Place them into a base, and you have a perfect crystal ball! This is the only style of the 5 that is truly transparent, so if authenticity is your goal, this one may be your best choice! Can’t get much easier than that!
Style 2 – Frosted
Supplies:
- 4″ Frosted Glass Round Christmas Ornaments
1. Pop the hanging apparatus off. Again – that’s it.
While this is the least transparent of the 5 styles, there was something very beautiful about the heavy frosting of the glass mixed with all of the iron elements on my table. When light caught this one, it sometimes appeared to glow. That in itself, offered a magical quality that was quite fitting.
OK.. now you finally get to get your hands a little dirty. For the next 3 styles you will need blocks of floral foam, and sturdy straws.
Each of these styles requires some painting which can be difficult to do evenly on a ball shape. This method makes it easy!
Insert the straw into the floral foam, and slide the ball onto it. Now you can spray all the way around, and allow it to dry without the paint pooling unevenly!
Style 3 – Sea Glass
Supplies:
1. Set up the glass ball on the straw and foam as described above
2. Spray the ball lightly and evenly with the paint until fully covered.
I used the Iridescent balls I had on hand, and it did maintain an iridescent glare even through the Iced paint. Avoid this by using a clear glass ball. I didn’t mind the iridescence coming through as I felt it made it a bit more realistic looking. An accidental perk!
This particular method produces a frosted ball, but one that is not quite as opaque as the pre-frosted ornament I had purchased. Please note.. the Sea Glass Spray comes in a variety of colors. I used Ice, which produces a true frosted finish without a shade of color.
Style 4 – Frosted
Supplies:
1. Set up the glass ball on the straw and foam as described above
2. Spray the ball lightly and evenly with the paint until fully covered.
As with the Sea Glass Balls above, I used the Iridescent balls I had on hand, and again, it produced an iridescent glare through the frosted paint. Avoid this by using a clear glass ball, but like I said… I liked the iridescence coming through.
This particular method also produces a frosted ball, but one that is not quite as opaque as the pre-frosted ornament I had purchased. This is a very similar effect as the Sea Glass Paint, but the sea glass is slightly more transparent. With these two methods, I’d suggest using whichever product is more readily available to you since the results are so similar.
Style 5 – Faux Mercury Glass
Supplies:
- White Vinegar
- Water
- Spray Bottle
- Looking Glass Spray Paint
- Paper Towels
1. Set up the glass ball on the straw and foam as described above
2. Mix two parts Vinegar to one part Water in a Spray Bottle
3. Shake can of Looking Glass Spray vigorously for a minute or two
4. Lightly mist the glass ball with the vinegar mixture
5. While wet, begin spraying the ball with even coats of the looking glass spray. Spray around entire ball.
6. Quickly mist with vinegar mixture again.
7. As you see the mercury glass effect start to take place, continue to alternate spraying with paint, and then misting with vinegar. You’ll notice that the size of the vinegar droplets on the glass have an impact on the amount of paint that is removed, so play around with spraying the vinegar from close or far away to create different effects.
8. This last step in creating the effect is to very lightly blot the vinegar droplets with a paper towel. This creates the pockets of missing paint and adds to the aged look you’re trying to achieve.
9. As I see patterns that I like, I typically allow those areas to begin to dry as I work on other areas. There’s no hard rule of thumb with this process. Just continue to alternate paint, vinegar, and blotting until you like what you see.
10. Allow to dry completely and VERY carefully transfer the ball to your base. These flakes of paint can be very delicate and can easily flake off if not handled with care.
There you have it. Five easy ways to get the look of a Crystal Ball! I couldn’t choose just one, so I mixed and matched them all on my table. If you’re not looking for a centerpiece, these also make great additions to decorative vignettes…. maybe on a foyer table or a fireplace mantel. I suggest placing the Iridescent Balls or the Mercury Glass Balls near a candle, and let the light of the flame highlight the iridescence or the mirrored glass….. or placing the Frosted Balls near a light source, so they can produce a soft glow. Enjoy!!
And don’t forget to check out the entire Witches Dinner Party packed full of details and project ideas!
These are GORGEOUS!!!!
I love them all but I am intrigued by the faux mercury glass ones. I’m going to try that method and see how it works out.
Thanks Roxanne! I know – the mercury glass one is definitely my favorite! That was the style I was planning to do for the original post, but I know you know how it goes…. sometimes one idea leads to a bunch of others!! They’ll be calling us the Queens of Crystal Ball options!! 🙂
Oh very my! I really wanted a beautiful stand for the Crystal Ball in my Fortune Teller Booth. But I have looked and looked and found nothing even remotely worthy, hence the quick DIY. But I’ve not lost the faith and you’ve given me the impetus to renew my search. Sx
Sue… Well, I loved your “quick DIY”… you know I’m a fan of anything made from Air Dry Clay! Besides, my stands leave little room for all of the cool smoke and colors that you & Roxanne came up with! Gotta love how all three of us had such different variations of the same thing!! But, best of luck on the search for some stands.. you know they’ll pop up once you’ve stopped looking! 🙂
So gorgeous! I wish I was lucky enough to find such unique bases at the thrift stores and yard sales around here (no luck yet, I’ll keep looking, though!).
Thank you Karen!! Definitely keep your eyes peeled. Once I found one, I started seeing them all of the time. It really wasn’t until I decided to do this project and was on a hunt for bases that would work, that I started seeing the items on the shelves differently. Good luck!!
These are fabulous! I am hosting a witch’s tea party this year and will try to give these a go. Now to find the stands!
Thanks Melinda! I’ll tell you… now that I made those crystal balls I see stands all of the time… hope you have the same luck!! Just tonight I posted a new article on some party favor/seating cards I made for the Witches Party….. made from loose leaf tea! May be something else of interest for your Witches Tea Party! 🙂
Now I need an cherub sphere base. Love these so much. Thank you.
That one was definitely lucky to come upon!! Good luck on the hunt!!
Excellent post! It may be too late for me to make one this year, but I am definitely pinning this so I won’t lose it. I already have the perfect base because I’ve tried this before, but (don’t laugh) I tried with a plastic Christmas ball and I never liked the way it turned out!
The glass definitely makes all of the difference!! Hopefully you’ll love it when you try it next year!!
My ornaments have an longer neck where the hanger was. Is there any way to get rid of it or hide it?
Hi Judy! Great Question!! Unfortunately, there’s no way to remove the neck on the glass balls, BUT… plenty of ways to hide it.
1. if you take a look at the examples of the bases I found, you’ll notice that several of the them are closed bases, so the neck sits into the base.
2. even without a closed base, a base with a lot of details will typically hide the neck as well. In this article, notice Style 3 and Style 5 are ornate enough to hide the neck, but if you look really closely, you’ll see I have the neck hanging straight down
3. if you intend to place the ball on a table, simply tilt the neck back slightly…. I did that in Style 4
4. Lastly, if your base is simple and/or you’re placing the ball on a table where it’s visible from all sides, I suggest using a bit of nature to cover up the neck. Take a look at the photos of the Witches Dinner Party: http://www.meandannabellee.com/witches-dinner-party/ …you’ll notice I used a lot of moss and dried flowers… it’s a great way to hide or distract from the neck.
I hope this helps!!
You could try using techniques described here to cut glass bottles.
https://m.wikihow.com/Cut-a-Glass-Bottle
Be careful and good luck!
P.S. Beautiful work =(^.^)=
What kind of ornament did you use for the last one? Frosted, Clear, or Iridescent?
Loved these sooo much!! Xoxo
Thank you Blessed Be!! For the “Mercury Glass” one, I used the iridescent glass ornament. I’ve used Clear glass in the past for that method, and it looks beautiful, but I thought the iridescent one looked a bit more magical for a crystal ball. 🙂