Vintage Art Microscope Slide Christmas Ornaments

I had a wonderful customer from my Etsy store make these lovely Christmas ornaments using my vintage collage designs.  I’m in LOVE with these!Vintage Christmas Microscope Slide Ornament 1 She graciously offered to share her ideas and instructions for others to enjoy.  My thanks to Patti at ETSY DEARSHABBY SHOP (click on name for link) who developed these very thorough and easy to follow directions.  Her photos are outstanding, but I bet they can’t even begin to show the elegance of the diamond glitter encrusted beauties 🙂
Here’s what you’ll need:

Microscope slides (buy on line for a very reasonable price)
Digital Download images available on Etsy from AudreyJeanneRoberts (or other wonderful Etsy artists as well )
Decoupage Glue
Detail Paint brush (to apply the decoupage glue to slides)
A pop-sickle stick if you don’t have a decent thumb nail
Glitter in assorted colors and sizes
Diamond Dust ( Large container ) of glitter
High Gloss top coat spray
Rainbow Gallery Plastic Canvas 10 (this is in the jewelry making department of your favorite craft store.
Preserve It spray (a strong hairspray will also work )

Vintage Santa OrnamentI’ve found that the most efficient way to do this project is to do each of the steps all at once. Meaning that instead of completing one piece at a time, do step one to all of your pieces, then step two, step three and so on. It works out much better for you if you do it this way.
Here’s our first step.
1. Decide first how many pieces you’ll want to make. Do you want to just experiment for now? Or would you like to create about 25 of these to hang on your tree?

2. You’ll want to go to AUDREY JEANNE’S ETSY SHOP. (This set used is found here: VINTAGE ANGEL)
You will see ALL of the beautiful digital downloads in her store but I was looking for Christmas items so I searched Christmas once I was in her store.

3. Once you have printed out your images you will want to protect them from running which can happen with ink jet printers. If you happen to have a laser printer~ you can skip this step. You can either use “Preserve It” spray, available from your craft store, (look in the art section or the scrap booking section) or a very strong hairspray. . Spray a very fine mist over the whole page. You don’t have to soak it, better not to. It will dry within 15 minutes
Vintage Ornament Craft Instructions4. If you have a “Cutterbee Cutterpeed” Cutter or any paper cutter like we used in grade school, that’s the best way to cut these out. Cut out strips first then with your scissors you can cut the individual clips out. They come in sizes of 2 inches long. You want them to be able to fit on the microscope slide so you’ll want to cut them into strips.

5. Once you have all of your pieces cut out, dip your detailed paint brush in the decoupage glue and apply a small amount of the glue on just one side of the slide. Don’t cover the whole slide only because you don’t need to. Just put a thin layer where you will be applying your image.

6. Center the image face down so that the picture will be showing through the front of the clear glass. Use your thumbnail or your popsicle stick to remove any air bubbles and excess glue. Please don’t skip this step, there will be air bubbles and excess glue. Just make sure you don’t rub too hard.
7. Put the pieces aside to dry. If you can place them in sunlight (indoors) or near a heat vent, all the better.
8.Once they are dry, grab your glitter glue. . I am using different colors of glitter on each one . Place the glitter glue on the same side of the glass as your image. So the glitter will be behind the glass. It is just as brilliant and the glue dries clear.
9. Once the glue is dry, (place them in the sunlight or near a heat vent. If you have a small bathroom where you could shut the door and let the heat turn the room into an arid environment, all the better). 15 minutes if you have them in the bathroom and 25 if the conditions aren’t so dry. Take them outside or in a well ventilated room and spray the high gloss top coat on the back where you’ve done all the work. This way you won’t have glitter falling off whenever you handle the pieces.
10. Next, let’s take a hot glue gun or if you don’t want to work with that kind of heat, a jewelers glue that works on glass would be fine, and in small sections, add it to the edge of the slide. Then quickly take your ” Rainbow Gallery Plastic Canvas 10″ and line the edge. Do this all around the edges. When you’re done, add glue all around the edges again and only working in small sections, dip the glued piece into the large container of Diamond Dust. Tap the excess off each time you bring the slide out of the diamond dust. Now turn the piece over and using your same glue attach the Rainbow Gallery string in a U shaped pattern on the back so that you are now able to hang your pieces.
The other great thing about this project is you can follow these instructions for all different holidays and just hang the slides in sunny windows.

If you are going to have a Christmas cookie exchange or a party, these would make a fabulous favor gift tag on your packages.  Just add a beautiful ribbon and use to tie on a package or bag.  Is it Christmas yet?!