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.

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.

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! :)

 

  

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}.

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…

 

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

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. 

 

 

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…

 

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

 

Project linked to: