Internally hand-painted glass baubles

Made in the northeast of China , each design is skilfully hand-painted onto the inside of a clear glass ball - a highly specialised skill originally developed to decorate the insides of Imperial snuff bottles. The basic stages in creating the finished bauble are outlined below.

First an outline version of the design is painted onto the inside of the ball in black using a very delicate brush. Fine details, such as faces and folds in clothing, need to be added at this stage. The opening through which the brush is inserted is highlighted on the top right of the ball.

The main colours of the initial outline drawing are then filled in and allowed to dry. This may be in one colour as above, or in several colours. Note the specialised brush - it has an angled tip to facilitate painting the sides of the bauble from inside.

Finally, the background colour is added using a broader brush, again with the special angled tip.

The finished bauble!

Each bauble is individually hand-painted then packed in an attractive padded gift box where it can be safely stored from year to year as fresh additions are made to the collection. View our collection of Empress hand-painted baubles in our hand painted glass baubles section.

Pictures and text copyright of Empress Decorations (a department of Flying Empress Kites Ltd.), 2005.