Monday, May 9, 2011

diy mercury glass

so it has been a little while since my last tutorial {durn lack of internet at the casa} so with the time i had today i figured i'd throw it up there finally! i've been dying for some mercury glass but haven't had great luck finding it!


i had a ton of empty candle holders {i burn candles almost every day so needless to say i go through them quick}, so i figured why not do it myself?! here is what i have come up with after combining a few tutorials online together...hope you like em!

materials necessary

  • glass container
  • krylon "looking glass" spraypaint
  • plastic bag
  • metallic acrylic paint (i used copper, gold, and a little black)
  • makeup sponge/cotton ball

start off with an empty glass container...i cleaned out all the wax using a butter knife and my sweet muscles...HA...then i ran it through the dishwasher to get the remaining off. i suggest doing this without other dishes in it. the wax didn't sit on my dishes, but i'd hate for it to ruin some of yours, so just a suggestion
next i used krylon "looking glass" spray. i sprayed the inside of the container because this spray creates a dull finish on the side of glass you spray and a mirror finish on the opposite side of the glass
this is probably the hardest part because you want to lightly spray the glass enough to cover it but not to much to cause streaks. i just try to swirl the glass around to get the excess paint all over without leaving the vertical streaks, but it happens sometimes and you can fix it in the next step
next, i took a plastic bag and while the paint was still a little damp, i dabbed the inside of the glass to give that distressed look that mercury glass has. this is where you can dab away the streaks if you had any. can you tell this is my spray paint table ;)
the plastic bag gives this distressed finish {the black is from soot in the candle holder that i had left in this particular one}
i repeated the process of painting a thin coat and distressing one more time, then i let it dry out.

after it dried, i took a makeup sponge {you can use a makeup triangle, cotton pad, or anything small you can think of along the same lines} and dapped this paint {you can also use a little flat or metallic black if you don't have any soot left} in some of the open distressed areas to give a little glimpse of color and rust feel. 

just let it dry completely and here is what it looks like on the inside...

but more importantly here is what it looks like on the outside!


gorgeous! yay!
linking up to:
The DIY Show Off 

 

4 comments:

MJ said...

you would go crazy over my stock pile of mercury glass that i've collected for the wedding.

but i've really been curious about if this technique works...and it looks AWE.SOME.

milliemorganmedia said...

Wow- these are gorgeous! What a great idea. I am your newest follower from Little Miss Momma's link up. Come check out my blog and follow me too! I am doing a giveaway that ends Friday at midnight!
http://milliemorganmedia.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Love this! Thanks so much for sharing. I'm definitely going to try this out

Karri said...

Gorgeous! What a brilliant idea!!

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