an open question to any and all who have made any of these little gems...or are considering doing so...

(they seem to lend themselves to a production line operation)...

...have you pre-finished (painted and glittered) any surfaces of cardboard before cutting out the pieces?...

examples -- inside walls, underside of roof, top side of floor...or just generously "mop brush" and hope for the best?...

my very best regards...howard...

I didn't but I wish I tried maybe next time. They maybe be little but they take a bit of time to paint.

I cut, assemble, paint and then glitter in that order. I coat the painted piece with watered down Aileen's and then add glitter that I shake from a recycled spice jar.

Silly question, but is there a type of glitter that starts out shiny but then goes to a black color over time.
The vintage Manger Ornament I have, seems to be covered with a glitter that looks black now.

Does that make sense?

Steve

Hi Steve, I keep looking at mine and I agree with you. What looks black is really glitter that has tarnished. I went to Meyer Import's site. It's the silver glass glitter that will tarnish. What I used is not glass glitter and has not tarnished a bit. Meyer's says the tarnishing process begins in 2 or 3 months.

Cool to know.

Thanks,

The manger ornament I made (earlier in this post) used silver glitter which you can see has tarnished to a dark bronze or gun metal color. I imagine it will keep darkening over time.

So I've been working on my own Manger Ornament.

Does anyone have a feel for what they looked like new out of the box.
I'm torn on how to coat this one.

Steve

greetings...

after botching two mangers trying to glitter the inside walls and the base area inside the walls...i'm making bases with standard kitchen matchsticks around three sides where the manger goes...this will allow me to paint and glitter the manger separate from the base...it may seem like an additional step on such a tiny project...and it is...but i'll get a better finish...and the manger will align on the base exactly where i want it...

howard...

Pretty Clever, Howard.