Free Christmas Ornament Clipart PNG — Watercolor Illustrations with Transparent Background

From a German glassblowing town to the American tree

Hand-blown glass Christmas ornaments trace back to Lauscha, a small glassmaking town in Thuringia, Germany, where craftsmen began blowing glass baubles for trees in the mid-1800s. Families worked at home, blowing thin glass into balls and molded shapes and silvering the insides so they shone. The ornaments reached the United States in quantity in the 1880s, when F. W. Woolworth started importing German glass for his stores. "Mercury glass" refers to the silvered, mirror-like finish of these old pieces: early makers used mercury-based mixtures, and silver nitrate later replaced them. Teardrops and long pointed finials are among the vintage shapes collectors still look for.

Baubles, finials and painted patterns

Each ornament in this set is drawn by itself, with its cap and either a ribbon loop or a bare hanger ring, so you can place them one at a time. The classic is a red glass bauble with a gold cap. A green glass ball carries a gold snowflake pattern, a blue glass ball has white painted stripes, and a white glass ball is dotted in red and green under a red velvet bow. A white onion-shaped ornament is hand-painted with holly, and a red ball wears a plaid ribbon bow on top. For a vintage look there is a pink and silver teardrop. Two break from the round shape: a gold glitter star tied with a red ribbon and a gold glass ornament shaped like a pine cone.

Cards, gift tags and ornament exchanges

Ornaments carry Christmas without needing a whole tree in the frame. Hang a row of them from the top edge of a Christmas card, a holiday party invitation or an ornament exchange invite, and put the text underneath. A single bauble makes a clean gift tag or a label for cookie tins and homemade jam. Teachers use them for classroom holiday counting sheets and door decorations, and churches and schools use them on Christmas concert programs and bake sale flyers. Sublimation sellers print them on mugs and tea towels, and the vintage teardrop and the hand-painted holly ornament suit retro and "grandma's tree" designs. Card, tag and invitation printing peaks from Thanksgiving weekend to mid-December, so have designs ready before then.

Christmas red, evergreen, gold and silver

The palette is the traditional Christmas set: deep red, green, gold and silver, plus white, a soft pink on the vintage teardrop and one blue ball for a frosty, winter look. Pair the ornaments with poinsettia blooms and sprigs of holly for a full holiday border, and add pine cones to echo the gold pine-cone ornament. A northern cardinal perched near a red bauble is a classic card layout. More holiday art lives in the Christmas clipart hub.

Hanging ornaments at different heights

A row of ornaments looks more natural when the ribbons are different lengths. Place three to five ornaments along the top edge of a card, extend each ribbon with a thin line in a matching color, and let them hang at staggered heights, with the largest bauble in the middle. Leave space between them so each pattern reads. For gift tags, set one ornament on the left and the name to its right, and punch the tag hole above the ribbon loop. Each file is a transparent PNG at 2048 by 2048 pixels, about 6.8 inches at 300 DPI, so an ornament can fill a whole tea towel or shrink to a one-inch sticker. For cutting machines, the round baubles give the cleanest print-then-cut lines.