Sunday 8 April 2012

{ let’s create } diy mercury glass

with candle 1Making a List, Checking It Twice :  wedding schedule Checkli  DIY mercury glass is a project that’s been on my to-do list for a while… and now I can check it off, ‘cause the mercury glass is done! Woot! It was a fun and easy project – although my first attempt wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped.

There are a lot of DIY mercury glass tutorials out there that are really similar to each other, so I just picked a random one and ran with it. In a nutshell – spray five light coats of Krylon Looking Glass Paint onto the inside of a glass piece, waiting about a minute between each coat. Let dry for about 5-10 minutes after the last coat, then lightly spray a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar onto the paint. Let sit for about 20 seconds, then rub with a damp paper towel to remove flakes of the paint, and voila, mercury glass. But my results weren’t exactly what I was hoping for… plus it took a LOT of elbow grease to rub the paint off.

star distressed  star distressed 2

So I decided to do my own thing to create the mercury glass look I was going for. I combined ideas from different tutorials, and came up with a technique that I think created a look that’s pretty close to real mercury glass…

mercury glass votive

Sorry about the lack of in-progress pictures – I was wearing gloves and getting paint all over myself and trying to go fast so I wouldn’t inhale too many fumes, so the camera just sat there watching and not actually taking pictures. But the process is easy…

What you need

  • Krylon Looking Glass Paint
  • 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar in a spray bottle
  • Glass piece with an opening large enough to fit your hand into {check out the Dollar Store}
  • Paper towels
  • Latex gloves

paint]  spray bottleglasses

How to do it

1. Lightly spray the water/vinegar mixture on the inside and outside of the glass piece, and then spray a thin coat of paint on the inside and outside of the glass piece. The instructions on the paint can say to spray it on the inside of the glass ONLY, but what can I say, I’m a rebel ;-) Painting both sides gives the piece a lot more depth. The paint is really thin and runny, so you really do have to go lightly with it. Let dry for about a minute. This is how it looks while it’s drying – not pretty, but don’t worry, it gets better!

vase in process

2. After letting dry for about a minute, put on your latex gloves and gently blot the paint & water with a paper towel. Blot, don’t rub – blotting will give you a mottled texture, rubbing will give you streaks. You won’t have much coverage at this point, but that’s OK – you want to build up layers of paint gradually.

vase close

3. Now it’s up to you to decide how much coverage you want. Keep spraying on light coats of the water/vinegar mixture and the paint, letting dry for about a minute after each application and then blotting with a paper towel until you achieve the look that you’re going for. Hold the glass piece up to a light to see how much coverage you have. I did the spraying/blotting process about six times to get the coverage that I wanted.

with candle 4

4. Once the coverage looks good to you, let the piece dry. You can still mottle the paint if you find there are spots where the paint is too solid. Wet a paper towel with vinegar and gently rub the spot in a circular motion. The paint will flake off – go slowly and don’t rub too hard, you don't want to rub all the paint off!

vae close d60

And just because I like to be different, I thought I’d try making a coloured mercury glass votive holder. I have lots of dye re-inker left over from the glitter balls I made for Christmas, so I used that. I squeezed in enough dye to cover the inside of the votive holder. It was pretty thick and didn’t swoosh around too well, so I spread it around with a paper towel and let it dry for about half an hour. Maybe I should have waited longer, but I was anxious to see if this was going to work :-) Then I followed the same process I used to create the mercury glass. Some more dye came off when I blotted, but there was enough left on the glass to give it a purple hue.

purple 2

votive d60Those are the coloured glass bottles in the background. Easy to make – pour in some paint, add a bit of water to make it thin enough to swoosh around inside the bottle, swoosh till the inside of bottle is covered with paint, turn upside to drain & dry, done!

three 1

three 2

votive close d60

with candle 7

And that’s how easy it is to create your own mercury glass :-) I’d love to create some more pieces, but my lungs need a break from the fumes! It would be better to do this project outside if you can, or at the least in a room with lots of good ventilation.

So what do you think – are you going to take a shot at making your own mercury glass?

kelly sig

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five days five ways  feature friday free for all

25 comments:

  1. WOW!!! I think this is the best rendition I have seen of mercury glass! You really NAILED IT!!!! Applause for you!!! and in this house we also send APPAWS!!!! : ) sending hugs...

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  2. Now that looks like fun Kelly, I want to try that! Your pieces are beautiful and elegant and they would go in any room. You make it look so easy. I will take your advice and wait to do them outdoors, I have a wicker chair I want to paint as well.

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  3. Excellent, excellent, excellent! I've tried to do this from a couple tutorials and ended up with a messy looking glass piece. I will try this...it looks very authentic! Thanks so much! xo wendy

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  4. I like how it turned out Kelly! I have always wanted to try my hand at this, will remember your tips for sure!

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  5. Theses look fantastic! Is there such a thing as copper coloured mercury glass..... That would go better with my decor

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    1. The Krylon paint only comes in silver, but you could probably do something similar to what I did with the purple votive holder to create copper mercury glass. Maureen, you've sent me on a mission to see if it can be done - and I already have an idea how to do it. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

      Kelly

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  6. They turned out beautifully. Love that romantic glow. Nice job.

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  7. They turned out beautifully! Thanks for sharing your technique.

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  8. Very pretty, Kelly! I especially love the one that you added the purple to.

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  9. wow, Kelly. these look great!

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  10. Kelly,

    Lovely and great for gift giving through out the year. I think they truned out great! The mind of a creative never stops!

    Bette

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  11. So lovely especially the mauve one !!! So clever of you !!

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  12. I really love the way you take an object, often of little value and remake it into something that you would pay good money for. Its really fantastic and a great ethos, using what you have and improving it.

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  13. Very nice!!! I've been wanting to try DIY mercury glass. Thank you for sharing such a great tutorial :-)

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  14. Fantastic! Now I want to try - except I've already bought so much Mercury Glass, any more would be overkill. I do like the copper idea though - I'd be interested in seeing how you do that :). And where did you get the spray paint?

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  15. Thanks for posting!!! I shall try this out and I must say that this is a DIY that in my mind ends up with something that looks really high end and not "crafty"

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  16. Your Mercury Glass project turned out fantastic Kelly! Have never done it myself, but no doubt have instructionS in my crafting fileS somewhere. :) Will have to dig them out and definitely add yours to them. Thank you. -Brenda-

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  17. The mercury class turned out great. This tutorial will help save me lots of money when Christmas time rolls around and I look to expand my collection.

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  18. This is a GREAT tutorial...I had heard mixed results from all of the others, but will definitely refer to yours when I go to give it a try. :)
    Karah

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  19. ditto! where are you buying this spray? i havent been able to find it yet.... great tut

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    1. I bought the paint from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Krylon-K09033000-Looking-Mirror-Like-Aerosol/dp/B003971BAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337258801&sr=8-1

      Kelly

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  20. This looks a lot better than some of the tutorials I've seen. I think you're right on with doing BOTH sides of the glass to get the depth that looks more like the real thing. Nice work!

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  21. On the west coast, Orchard Supply Hardware just started carrying this paint, also Beverly's Fabric and Crafts, but the price is twice what it is at the hardware store. I had to ask a paint dept. person for it, it's not with the other spray paints.

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    1. Thanks for the tips about where to find the looking glass paint. You really need to use that paint to get the right effect.

      Kelly

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  22. For your purple one, does the ink stay on the glass well? Do you know if the ink applied to glass is waterproof? Or if you can bake it at a low temp to make it waterproof?

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