Craft this very-Victorian Halloween Witch Ornament and deck out your Halloween tree in style.

(click here for a larger Halloween Witch Ornament image)

Our Halloween Witch Ornament is inspired by Victorian decorations of the late 19th century. This one has it all; a crafty witch in a pumpkin, woven black braid, and faceted beads.

This is a very versatile design, and once you get started, you'll think of a hundred ways to adapt it into ornaments for all occasions.

There are two secrets to the construction.  The first secret is - shhh - foamcore board.  The other secret is printing two mirror-image vintage illustrations for the front and back. We give them to you, ready to be printed, but if you start making your own designs, start with two identical copies of your image and "flip" one of them with your graphics program.

Materials for Halloween Witch Ornament

• Vintage images (FREE PDF download).
• Matte photo paper, heavyweight.
• Foamcore board, 3/16" thick, black (see Tips).
• Flat, decorative braid, 1/4" wide, black.
• Small, faceted plastic or glass beads (ours were 6mm orange beads).
• Beading pins (see Tips).
• Craft glue.
• Scissors.
• Craft knife (for cutting foamcore board) (see Tips).
• Self-healing cutting mat. 

Instructions

1. Print the vintage images on matte photo paper.  Trim them carefully with small scissors. Using one cut-out image, trace the shape on the foamcore board. Cut out the shape with a craft knife. Glue the images to each side of the foamcore, aligning the tops of the images carefully. Press them flat and let dry.
   
   
2. Cut a 17" length of decorative braid. This will fit around the ornament and leave 7" for a hanging loop at the top. Start at the bottom of the ornament.  Glue and pin the two ends to meet at the bottom.  Work up one side, gluing the braid to the foamcore edge, and pin in place every few inches.  When you get to the top, begin again at the bottom and glue and pin the other side, until the braid meets at the top. Be sure the hanging loop is centered at the top of the ornament. Let the glue dry.
   
   
3. Insert a beading pin into a bead, dip the point in craft glue, and insert it into the braided edge, next to the hanging loop. Continue pinning beads around the edge until you reach the other side of the hanging loop.
4. Done with your Halloween Witch Ornament! Now scour your collection of vintage images for likely candidates, and make a batch of Victorian Halloween ornaments (see Tips)!

Tips

• Who knew beading pins existed? We tried using our regular straight pins, but the pin heads were a little small for the holes in the beads. A quick trip to Joann Fabrics and Crafts, and we came home with a box of "beading pins", which are a little shorter than straight pins and the heads are larger.
• Foamcore board, or foam board, is a material constructed of an inner layer of polystyrene foam sandwiched between two layers of heavy paper. We used black (black paper on black foam) but this project will work as well with any color. If you fear that white foamcore might show through the edging braid, color the edge of the foamcore black with marker or paint before you apply the braid.
• Cutting foamcore board is tricky. Do not use scissors, because they will crush the edge as you cut. Use a long-blade craft knife or a micro-saw.
• When looking for other vintage images for these ornaments, here are the qualities you want:
• well-defined shapes are the best, like circles or other geometrics.
• avoid images with words, because when the image is flipped on the back of the ornament, the words will be reversed as well.
• if you find an irregular shaped picture you like, trim it with the background into a circle or oval, or cut out the figure and glue it to a geometric shaped background paper. We did this with a flying witch, and glued it to a yellow full-moon image for a great composite picture. Remember, you can resize any image.
• Go crazy with your beading. We opted for a single row of identical orange beads, but you might vary the size and color of beads for an authentically Victorian look. On the other hand - just the braiding looks great.