DIY Faux Mercury Glass Ball Mason Jar
Do you know how people say they were doing this or that before it was cool? When I was a kid we drank out of jars whether it was a mason jar (hopefully you got one with a handle – classy!) or straight-up jelly jars. I remember playing in my Mimmie’s backyard and running inside to make a glass of water that tasted like minerals and chemicals deluxe (which I loved) plonked in some gigantic ice cubes after cracking them free from the plastic tray. And more often than not my glass was a mason jar.
Sometimes it was these lightweight peach-colored plastic mugs. I loved those things! But that was only if I needed a little drink. Climbing trees and running from locusts required a “big drank of water”. 🙂
The mason jar had tons of uses besides drinking, one of the biggies being a vase. My Mimmie would take the flowers I picked for her, even if they were just a few measly weeds, and put them on the kitchen window sill in one of those jars. So today I thought it would be pretty awesome to make a fancier version for Mother’s Day with a bouquet instead of straggly weeds!
For this project you will need:
Mix a 50/50 solution of water and plain old white vinegar. You don’t need tons. For 3 jars I used 1/4 cup of each. Put your vinegar water in a spray bottle that will give you a nice, fine mist.
Give your jar a good wash (even if you just bought it) so that the paint can get a good purchase. Turn upside down on a protected surface.
Spray the outside of your jar with a healthy dose of vinegar water.
Followed quickly by a spray of Looking Glass paint. Wait a minute or two but NO MORE.
Using a soft cloth buff away the paint from the areas with the vinegar mixture below.
I used a plain old paper towel and it did great at first but quickly just stripped all of the paint away. I found an old, very soft, and smooth tee to be the best bet followed closely by a soft sock that had lost a mate.
Repeat the process as necessary to get the coverage you’re looking for.
When working with fresh flowers I’ve got two tips for you and these are gold though you probably already know them. To get a nice, even bouquet leave the bunch exactly as is, and then cut the bottoms to fit your jar. Cut the stems at an angle to help them get water and any solution that came with your flowers more easily thereby lasting longer. Lastly, remove all of the leaves and bits so that you have nothing but a stem that rests in the water. The leaves will kind of do this weird rot dissolve thing that will make your water grody and you’ll need to replace it. Then you’ll lose all of that stay longer powder that comes with bouquets these days and they’ll not last as long as they could.
So there is my pretty little bouquet worthy of one fantastic mother or grandmother.
While my jar looked a bit tame when empty, with the dark stems inside the mercury dots are more prominent.
The Looking Glass spray paint is going to run you around $7-10 which isn’t super cheap but that little can go a long way. I was able to turn a frame into a mirror quite some time ago and then make 3 mason jar vases today and I still have about half of the can left by the feel of it!
And this technique is not exclusive to mason jars. To keep a rustic glam theme going, give the faux treatment to the glass in a variety of shapes and sizes for a neat, flea market find the type of look!
A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.