Blog Archive

Thursday, May 2, 2013

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN MERCURY GLASS VASE

Hi fellow DIYer's! I am back and this time we will be learning about how to make your own mercury vases. I know this is a something that we have been seeing a lot of recently, I love the vintage feel of mercury glass. And instead of shelling out big bucks to cop a few of these, why not make your own!



Pier 1, Pottery Barn and a few other stores sell these for major bucks, and since I am a fan of creating  your own unique piece I figured I would give it a shot!

What you will need:
  • A wide mouth clear vase
  • Krylon Looking Glass Spray
  • Gold Plate spray ( optional)
  • Water bottle spray (oil and water mix)


 
 Clear Glass Vase

Coat the inside of the vase with a very light mist of the oil and water mix, to create water beads inside the vase. After this, spray a very light coat of the Looking Glass Spray on the interior of the vase. The trick is keep it light, don’t over spray. Just coat the surface once.


Close up of the oil/water spray and looking glass spray
 


Go back in with a cotton ball and randomly pat around the surface. Antique mercury glass is often peeling away or unevenly distributed. And if you really want an authentic look, spray a light coat of gold metallic spray paint over the silver, and pat with cotton ball in a random pattern. When mercury glass ages it often has a gold/silver mix.


It turned out a bit more gold than I expected, so if you want to go for the real mercury glass look, I would suggest sticking with only the Looking Glass Spray. Here is the finished look all dressed up!


 Happy DIY!

Juliette









10 comments:

  1. I love the look. I am going to try this. Thanks for the instructions.

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  3. Can this technique be done to the outside of the vase instead of the inside?

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    1. I don't think so. Everything I have read says best results are achieved by inside spraying as Mercury glass was double walled so silver was seen through glass. I read Martha Stewart's article. Very informative as Martha always is.

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  4. With the two photos of the beautiful narrow necked vases displayed at the beginning of the article, I was hoping you might tell us how those are done. Any ideas, I want to do wine bottles for wedding centre pieces.
    Thanks,
    Sheena

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  5. I was wondering the same thing, and would like a comment/response on how that is done, particularly on wine bottles

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  6. I was wondering if you did the inside of the vases, how it held up when you put water and flowers in it....

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  7. THe vases look dull compared to those you purchased.

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  8. How did you get the 'rose' colored effect?

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  9. Yo he visto que dan otra fórmula para pulverizar y mitad agua y de vinagre de alcohol o si no tenés cualquier vinagre te viene bien con eso se puede hacer las botellas por fuera.

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