Christmas Crafts > Christmas Ornaments
 Domino Ornaments
Altering dominos has been very popular for a few years now.
There are many ways out there to decorate them. My favorite way
has been with Sharpies since the first time I tried them. The ease
of this method, and the vibrancy of the colors just can’t be
matched by any other method I've tried.
Dominos are a very good size to be transformed into ornaments.
Also, they have just enough weight to hang well off a tree branch,
while not being too heavy and causing the branch to droop. If you
make a batch of ornaments in a mass production method, they make
fast and inexpensive gifts. Every year I give out about 30 small
gifts to friends from church or work. These domino ornaments work
perfectly for the budget and time limitations of such a large job.
Materials Needed:
Dominos
StazOn Ink – in the examples, black is used
Sharpie Permanent Markers
Cording or Ribbon for hangers
Spray Sealer
 Step
1: Drilling the domino
When drilling dominoes, you must take a bit of care. The particles
of plastic thrown up from the drilling process are bad for your
lungs if inhaled. A fabric mask or a dust mask works to keep from
breathing these. Some plastics give off fumes when the friction of
the drill heats them. A dust mask won’t block fumes, so it is best
to drill in a well-ventilated area.
In working with dominos, I have come across 2 types of plastic.
The white dominos sold in a tin at Wal-Mart are of a harder type
of plastic that is very difficult to drill through and gives off a
lot of fumes. The ones I find easiest to drill through come in a
vinyl case and are much thinner. These are of a type of plastic
that is much easier to drill and doesn’t not give off as many
fumes when drilled.
When drilling dominos for ornaments, I use a 1/8” drill bit.
Place the domino on a scrap block of wood, dots side up. Decide
where you would like your hole to be, and make a mark there with a
sharpie. If you want to pre-start your hole, you can hammer a nail
on your mark until you have a small indentation that will hold the
drill bit in place as it starts to cut into the domino. Drill
through the domino until the drill goes completely through and
into the wood block.
 Step
2: Stamping
StazOn ink is permanent ink. Make sure, before you start stamping,
that you have cleaner for permanent inks handy. Clean your stamps
immediately after stamping.
I use a piece of scrap paper underneath, just in case, to
protect my surface from the permanent ink. Ink your stamp with the
StazOn ink. Place your stamp face up on your work surface.
Carefully place your domino face down on top of your stamp, so
that the image prints where you would like it. Be careful not to
slide the domino on the stamp. Gently press on the back of the
domino to transfer the ink.
If there are any areas that did not fully stamp, you can fill
them in with a black Sharpie.
Step 3: Sealing the ink
This step isn’t vital, but it makes everything so much easier!
Because StazOn ink is a solvent-based ink, it can be reactivated
by other solvent based inks. In this case, we do not want that. We
want our nice crisp design to stay where we put it, and we don’t
want to blend black into our coloring.
If you tried to color your domino without sealing in this step,
you would have to be very careful to “stay in the lines” of the
design. This means that you would have to avoid coloring over any
shading marks as well. This can be very difficult.
Make sure that your StazOn ink is completely dry. I suggest
waiting an hour or so just to be sure… but if you are in a hurry,
you can hit it with a heat gun to speed the drying process. Lay
your domino on a piece of scrap paper. Do this either outside, or
in a very well ventilated area. Always start spraying off to the
side to prevent spatter. In a smooth side-to-side motion, lightly
mist the domino. It is vitally important to keep it light. Spray
sealers are also solvent based, and the StazOn ink will run if the
coat is too heavy.
Repeat this process 2 more times.
 Step
4: Coloring the domino
Sharpies are also a solvent-based ink. In combination with the
StazOn ink, this would not be good. But in combination with each
other, this is wonderful. This allows them to blend smoothly with
each other.
I recommend using a spare domino as a color chart. Practice
blending colors and see what the resulting secondary colors are.
This color chart can become a handy reference when choosing colors
for projects. I keep mine with my pens and refer to it whenever I
am planning a project.
 To
blend colors, first color a small bit with your darker color where
you want the color to be darkest. Be very sparing. The dark colors
go a long way. Now take your lighter color and start coloring in
by swirling your pen in small circles dipping into the darker
color with each pass. The darker color will pick up on the tip of
the lighter color pen. As you work, move farther and farther away
from the area of darker color, continuing to swirl into the area
you have already colored. The farther you get away from the darker
color, the lighter the color coming off your pen will be. To clean
your pen of any extra darker color after you are done, swirl it
around on a piece of scrap paper.
Because you sealed the StazOn ink, you may color right over the
shading and detail lines of your design. I usually continue my
coloring down around the sides of the domino as well. If you don’t
want to color the sides of the domino, you can use a Krylon
Leafing Pen to add a metallic edge to your design.
You can leave the back of the domino unaltered so that people
can see that it is a domino. I prefer to do this, because it
always fascinates people. Alternatively, you can color it with
sharpies, or glue a piece of decorative paper on.
Step 5: Final sealing
This step is exactly the same as Step 3. Make sure to keep your
coats thin and even.
Step 6: Adding the hanger
Tie a length of cording or ribbon through the hole you drilled
in step 1.
 Variations:
- Travel size dominos are the perfect size for pendants.
- Decorated dominos make wonderful magnets. Magnet sheets designed
to fit on the backs of business cards are available at office
supplies stores. These sheets are a stronger magnet than the
sheets typically sold in craft supplies stores and easily hold the
weight of the domino plus papers. Also, these sheets are self
adhesive and easily cut, with your spare scissors, to the size
needed.
- If you add ball chain, they make great key rings.
- By drilling 2 parallel holes through the side of several dominos,
you can string them together with elastic to make a bracelet.
By Jen Minnis
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