Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My version of DIY mercury glass vases.

I read a few blog posts on how to make your own faux mercury glass vases/candle holders, and thought it’d be perfect for a “girl gift” for one of the family Christmas parties we have every year.

IMG_7962

The post I read here, suggested using a particular looking glass spray paint, but I was trying to keep the cost to just a couple bucks for these gifts since I was making a load of them. So instead of dropping 11 bones on that paint, I spent maybe $3 on Krylon’s gold spray paint.

IMG_7943

I bought my glass hurricanes and candles from the good ol’ Dollar Tree. And I already had the vinegar – making this project pretty darn cheap! :)

 

IMG_7944   IMG_7941

I followed the blog post linked above, which says to start by spraying the inside of the vase with spray paint and then add the vinegar, but it didn’t really work well for me {at all}.

IMG_7952

So after a ridiculous amount of failed attempts few different approaches, I settled on this as the best way…

1. Mix a some vinegar and water in a spray bottle, probably about 3 parts vinegar, 1 part water.{I used an empty Windex bottle, worked perfectly.}

2. First spray the vinegar mixture into your glass vase.

3. Immediately {before the vinegar droplets spread or dry} spray your gold paint over those droplets covering the entire inside of your vase. It will look like this…

 IMG_7961

IMG_7954

4. Let the paint dry to touch, but don’t let it sit so long that the droplets have been absorbed and the paint is hardened in every spot.

5. Spray a paper towel to dampen it with your vinegar mixture

IMG_7956

6. Wipe around the inside of your vase with your damp paper towel. The paint will chip off in the spots where the vinegar drops were. You may need to use a little force, depending on how much of a chipped affect you’re going for. 

  IMG_7957

 IMG_7959

7. If you accidently rub/chip off too much paint, you can always start back at step number 2 and have a two coat affect {the layered paint looked cool actually.}

8. Add your votive candle, dim the lights, turn on some romantic tunes, and prepare to be impressed…

IMG_7962

IMG_7965

  IMG_7964

I love how they turned out, especially lit at night!

signature4

 

Project linked to:

Domestically Speakingimage image Photobucketimage

14 comments:

  1. I found the instructions for this the other day too and is in my list do!! Great job!!
    Janny A.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are awesome - great job! I'm a new follower from All Things Inspired.

    Would love for a return follow :o)

    http://sallyleebythesea.com
    http://mgphotoart.blogspot.com

    Thanks & Happy New Year to you!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robin, as long as you used a glossy silver and not flat finish, I think it'd work well! Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love, love, love. Best part is being able to do it with stuff around the house - you are a genius, it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmmm I'm going to have to try it :)
    Visiting from Tatertots and Jello.

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are absolutely lovely, and I am bookmarking them so I can try it too! Thanks for the inspiration! Come see me sometime at:
    http://sceneofthegrime.blogspot.com
    Love Laurie

    ReplyDelete
  7. Are there any issue with the paint and flame/fire??

    ReplyDelete
  8. I haven't had any problems with the candle & fire. I used a small votive, and it seemed just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have been searching for this look for my diy autumn wedding! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Off to the craft store I go!

    Debbie K - Philadelphia, PA

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have been working on a project that my daughter started for me for Christmas. We have two sets of jars, one large and the other set is probably the same jars that you used. We were planning on stensiling on the letters to the words "M E R R Y" for the large jars and " C H R I S T M A S" for the smaller jars to go on an entry table. The stensilling did not work at all, the paint ran under the stensils and just looked a mess so I removed it. Then my husband came up with the idea of etching the glass. Again I worked with the stensils, but I found some double sided sticky paper, that I copied the stensils onto and then with an knift, cut out the stensils. I removed the back side of the paper and stuck the stensils onto the jars and applied the etching paste. The project came out okay, there were still some leakage under the stensils I guess because it is still a curved surface. The problem now is the etching is not very brite or easy to see unless you are right on top of them. Now I have thought about using the Mercury Glass technic on the inside of the jars to see if the etching would show up better. I have looked at several versions of how to do the process, but I think yours is the best as far as instructions. Plus I like the idea of double painting, because I would like for the jars to appear to be a Red metalic from the outside and I would like the interior of the jar to appear silver. I think that if I only used silver the etching might not show up as well. I will let you know if it comes out okay. Thanks so much for sharing. Linda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds great! Good luck on trying the project! :)

      Delete
  11. I love this look too and you did a fabulous job with decorating the vases. I bought a can of this spray paint ages ago and still haven't tried it...one of these days. Thanks for sharing your tutorial and for visiting with me:-)

    Mercury Glass Vases

    ReplyDelete
  12. I finally tried this with apple cider vinegar, water, and gold spray paint. Came out awesome! No need for looking glass paint!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from people reading my blog. If you don't mind, please put your name so I know who you are. :) Thanks so much for sharing!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...