First I make and bake the miniatures that will go into the ornament. I like using fimo for the miniatures because it is a firmer clay.
Then I gather all of the items that will go into the ornament.
These are the only tools I use. A long pair of tweezers, 2 pencils and and ink pen. One pencil eraser is kept clean for pushing figurines into clay base and one is used with a bit of sculpey on the eraser to help pick up the smaller pieces.
There are several sizes of clear glass ornaments you can use. I use the 3 and 3/4 inch round size for my ornaments. The opening at the top is just big enough to fit my figurines through. Be careful while making your figurines that they will be small enough to fit through the top of the ornament size you choose to use.
Then I use white sculpey for the "snow" base on the inside of the ornament. The sculpey clay is softer and easier to work with in the ornaments than the fimo. I use the back end of an ink pen to arrange the clay and smash it in place. Be careful when placing the base clay. If I am going to break my ornament this is usually when it will happen.
Next I use the eraser end of a pencil to place small pieces of colored clay and the clay candies in place. I keep a small piece of sculpey on my working board to scrape the eraser across to get just enough clay on the eraser to help pick up and hold the items I want to place inside the glass.
Next I use the tweezers to place the tree and figurines into the "snow" base. Once placed inside I use the clean eraser to press the figures into place.
The eraser that has the small amount of sculpey on it is used to make sure the figures are secure in the clay base by pressing the clay close to each figure. The scroll would have been personalized before placing into ornament.
Now you can bake your competed ornament to harden the clay base. I bake them at 265 for 20 minutes. The ornament is now finished.
The instructions given here are for making your own ornaments at home.
Ornaments that are meant for shipping require a method of securing the inside scene to the bottom of the ornament.
Once the ornaments have been baked and the snow base is hardened it can seperate from the glass causing it to move around. It will get destroyed in shipping if not secured.
I use a hook
attatchment glued to the inside base of ornament and build the clay snow base around it. This keeps the ornament secured in place.
Have Fun!