Experiments in Painted Christmas Balls

I recently visited the craftiest place on earth: Target!  In the Christmas section I found a bunch of clear glass ornaments.  I decided to take them home and see what I could do with them.  A smart person would probably have invested in some glass paint, but I'm simply not that smart.  So, I tried out the stuff I had on hand.  Here's a photo of my experimental workshop in progress:

I used tiny cups to hold the balls and keep them from rolling around while I painted them.

The red and green ball was the first ball I tried out.

I painted the bottom with fluid acrylic first and discovered that I probably needed a base coat.  So half way through, I base coated the bulb with gesso by using a cosmetic wedge sponge to dab the paint on.

I did the opposite for the next ornament.  I base coated half of it using the same cosmetic wedge dabbing technique...

...and then I dripped white acrylic ink on the inside to sort of thinly tint the top half of the ornament.

The third and final ornament was created because I fell in love with the idea of dripping ink inside the ornament.  It didn't stay put in the drips the way I expected and hoped, but I still thought the translucent effect was pretty cool.

I dripped several kinds of acrylic ink (including a metallic) inside the bulb and then I decorated the outside with puffy paint.

And here are all the ornaments together:

That little tree looks like it just needs a few more bulbs to make it complete!

Have you decorated clear glass Christmas balls?  What did you use to decorate them?

Thanks for stopping by!