My Faux Mercury Glass Vases are the perfect DIY for gifts, or for your home.
The leaves have fallen, and it’s chilly outside! Time to get cozy inside with some more DIY projects. Today I’m sharing how you can create some very pretty faux mercury glassware! All those pretty/aged candles and vases you find in the shops for $30+ can now be made for a few bucks. That’s a win! There are many tutorials for faux mercury glassware, but I have yet to see any DIY’s using a vase. The typical mercury glassware DIY sprays paint on the INSIDE of the glass, but I needed my vases to hold flowers. So I did some experimenting. Instead of spraying the paint inside the glassware, I sprayed it on the OUTSIDE. Check out below to see how I made my Faux Mercury Glass Vases.
Supplies:
- Glassware: an old glass vase, jar, or even an old glass container. If you can’t find anything, head to your local thrift store.
- Krylon Looking Glass Mirror Spray Paint
- Spray bottle
- White Vinegar and water mixture (1/2 water + 1/2 vinegar)
- Paper towels
- Drop cloth/paper
- Respirator mask (safety first!)
- Gloves (messy)
- Optional: goggles
Directions:
- Clean and dry the glassware.
- Fill a spray bottle with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water. Set the nozzle to the lightest mist setting possible.
- Lay down your drop cloth and place the glassware.
- With paper towels on hand, spray a layer of the mirrored paint on the outside of a glass. Follow this with a light spritz of the vinegar + water mixture. Let that sit for 2 – 4 minutes.
- When your wait time is up, dab the vinegar + water mixture off of the glass. Do NOT rub. That will smudge the paint. Just a light dab will do.
- Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you’re happy with how the glass looks. I added about 4 layers of mirror glass to each piece (each layer was followed by a spritz of vinegar + water and then dabs).
- Let the paint dry for 24 hours.
- Add a beautiful bouquet of flowers to your vase! Or, use those beauties as a candle holder.
If you make this DIY I’d love to see it. You can tag me on Instagram @thepapermama!
– Chelsey
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Just discovered your site and I love it!I wanted to reach out to you and see if you would be willing to test out some of my glass etching craft supplies for free for feedback. Would you be interested? Please let me know via email if possible. Shipping of the supplies will be free as well. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks Eric
Is there a difference between looking glass regular and looking glass sliver?
Hmmm… I’m not sure. Maybe if you head into a craft store they might be able to help? I feel like the regular might be less shiny. Maybe. Good luck!
REally very interesting idea. I will try make my own vases with gold spray… 🙂
I do believe this technique can solve a big problem for me…glass panes on french doors between private areas in a bed and breakfast that can also be adjoined areas. Other solutions have failed…etching does not give enough privacy, contact paper gets peeled off (by curious kids?). My only question before I give it a try is how to keep it clean. Can you recommend a finish that can help the treated glass hold up to regular cleaning?
Hmmm… I usually use and clear acrylic sealing spray to seal projects, but I haven't tried it on this. Maybe try a test spot?
Very pretty! Thank you for sharing the technique!
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So pretty!
So awesome! Love this little trick and it looks phenomenal!
Thank you!
Ooh, I love mercury glass- I'll be pinning this tutorial!!
Yay!
These turned out fantastic!! I love them!! Thanks for the tutorial … I'm totally doing this!! I love mercury glass.
I hope you love it!
I'm So doing this. I have a small collection of mercury glass that I LOVE to work into all my seasonal decorating but it's the best at christmas! I tried the spray inside the glass technique a few years ago and I hated how it turned out. YAY for new ideas!
Let me know how it goes!!! I enjoyed it. 🙂