Happy Holidays to all. Here is my gift to you this holiday season.

Step by step instructions to make this filigree ornament - cat not included

These are the supplies you will need. A clay extruder with a fine thread/hair disk,
one block of Premo red pearl clay, gold mica powder,
a glass ornament,
and a baking stand made from a length of dowel inserted into a blob of scrap clay.

Condition about 1/3 of the block of clay, roll it into a log and insert what will fit into the extruder.
Extrude several lengths of the clay.

Take a 4″ length of clay and begin to coil one end.

Flip it over and start coiling the other end in the opposite direction to make an s-scroll.

Continue coiling the two ends until they are near the middle but not touching.

Remove the metal end cap of the ornament and begin placing s-scrolls around the middle of the ornament. Alternate directions and note that they touch on the “outside” portion of the scrolls only. That leaves gap on the other end and gives you more wiggle room to adjust placement as needed to completely encircle your ornament.

This is what you will have after finishing the first row. I used 16 s-scrolls for this ornament.

Next take a 4″ length of clay and make a large open c-scroll.

Place the c-scroll so that the coils fit into the open areas at the bottom of the first row. As shown you will have two coils of the s-scrolls touching in between the coils of the c-scroll. It is important that the clay actually touches so that it will bond together. You will be making a kind of a net around the glass and all of the joins need to be firm. This way you will not have pieces falling off years later.
Make and place 3 more large open c-scrolls.

Make 4 more open c-scrolls from 3″ lengths of clay and add to the bottom as shown.

Next make closed c-scrolls from 2″ lengths of clay. You want these to be taller than they are wide. You will need 8 of these.

Apply the closed c-scrolls in the openings between s-scrolls above the first row.

The last claying step is to make 8 larger closed c-scrolls from about 3″ lengths of clay and arrange them to bridge between the previous row of closed c-scrolls. You want to make sure that they touch each other as well as the c-scrolls of the row below.

Place a small amount of gold mica powder onto a smooth surface like a tile, and pick up a little with the pad of your finger. Pat your finger on the tile to knock off the loose powder.

Pat the powder onto the clay trying to keep it from getting into the crevasses between and within the scrolls.

Continue applying gold mica to the entire ornament. Make sure to firmly pat it into place so it does not rub off after baking. You can actually rub lightly after the mica is first applied to make sure it is well adhered. Baking is where the stand comes in. Just place the ornament upside down on the stand and bake following the manufacturers directions. By suspending the ornament you will not risk any distortion of your design.
After baking let the ornament cool. Then wash it with soap and water to remove the extra gold mica powder from the glass. Don’t worry, it won’t come off the clay without vigorous scrubbing.

Here is what you will end up with. The red darkens a little from the baking which is an effect I like. Now pick your own colors and see what you can come up with.