Have you got light sabers, blasters, and the force flying around your house? We sure do! With 4 Star Wars obsessed boys and 2 Star Wars obsessed parents it only seemed fitting that we have a Star Wars Christmas tree! However, to have a Star Wars themed Christmas Tree you have to have a Star Wars Christmas Ornaments and have you seen how much those puppies run?! Ouch!!!! I’ll have to admit, Adam, had the idea for how to make DIY Star Wars Christmas ornaments, but the execution is all mine! By our calculations you can make 40 glass Star Wars Ornaments for $13 or .33 an ornament.
In the supplies below I happened to purchase my ornaments on half off Christmas decoration day at Target. I happen to have this thing for real glass ornaments so I got the box of 40 for $10 and the package of temporary Star Wars tattoos was $3. The below links are Amazon Affiliate links.
Star Wars Christmas Ornament Supplies
- Glass Ornaments: Light Colors with matte finishes seem to work the best, but we mixed in silver & clear (for the Light Side) and Red & Black (For the Dark Side). We bought multipacks that had glitter ornaments we used for color on the tree. The tattoos do not stick to the glitter!
- Temporary Tattoos: Not all tattoos are alike. We bought one pack at Target and despite the cover having Kylo Ren it had only Light Side characters! Not a storm trooper to be found. We ordered a second pack from Amazon and it had a better mix of characters from all of the movies (No Jar Jar Binks!!!). Also some of the temporary tattoos brands are more opaque than others. This matters if you are putting them on dark colored glass ornaments as it can change whites to pink etc.
- Water
- Wash Cloth
Step 1: Cut It Out
Cut out your tattoo. Seems simple right? Wrong. This might be the most important point; Star Wars tattoo selection and trimming. For your first tattoo start with one you don’t like. Maybe that 20th storm trooper or some such. Then cut it out pretty close to the tattoo. There are two reasons for this. The first is that on some temporary tattoos they have a lot of clear gel? stuff? surrounding the picture. You want to remove that as it shows on the ornament and we wants some freaking fantastic Star Wars Christmas Ornaments right? Secondly, you are taking a flat item and adding it to a curved item. This is why Greenland looks so damn big on the map. Flat <> Round (Does not equal for all you non-nerds). Removing material makes it much easier to mold to the surface.
Pro Tip: Any geometric tattoo is a P.I.T.A. and almost impossible to get perfect on the curved surface. Do not start with these!
Step 2: Place Your Face
Before you start this step have a bowl of water and a wash cloth handy.
Okay, not technically your face but potentially Princess Leia’s face needs to line up on the ornament. Keep the plastic covering attached to the tattoo while you kind of hold it up and see where you want it. Only when you feel ready to tackle this puppy peal the plastic backing off and lightly place the tattoo on the surface in the middle of the tattoo. I say lightly for a reason. If you touch the sticky side to the glass ball much at all it is stuck for good! Let us just say I was glad there were 10 extra tattoos to mess with.
Step 3: May the Force Be With You (And with you also)
So we aren’t actually going to “force” the tattoo to adhere. To get great looking Star Wars Christmas ornaments you need to use care and a deft dabbing hand. Wring out the wash cloth until it is just slightly damp start smoothing the tattoo from the center outward with dry fingers. Then lightly dab the paper until it is damp enough to mold easily to the glass. I learned the hard way that too much water will seep under the tattoo and keep it from adhering to the ornament. Once you have the entire tattoo stuck you can wet the paper more, but be careful to dab at 90 degrees. I ruined a few ornaments by sliding the whole thing on the glass.
WAIT THE ENTIRE 30 SECONDS before pealing it back. I know it is tempting, I know you want to see. But just let it sit there for a minute. Glass is much slicker than human skin and you need to give it a moment to settle and adhere correctly. Finally peel off the paper backing and admire your work.
I was careful not to touch anything. I let it dry fully overnight. After that just hang and enjoy!
To recap:
- Take the time to cut out extraneous paper
- Less water is more
- Dab don’t swipe
Since this is the first year we made them I can’t tell you how they will hold up over time. But, it would certainly be easy enough to do them again if they happen to peel up. We have had them on the tree for two weeks and they look really good. In fact we had the pizza delivery person ask to take pictures! Can’t ask for a more flattering situation than a random stranger asking to take photos of your Star Wars Christmas ornaments and Star Wars Christmas Tree.