DIY Blue Glass Mason Jar

Ok, I am about to be super vulnerable with you. Please don’t judge me! 🙂 A while ago I was talking to an old friend who also reads my blog. As we were catching up on each other’s lives, this person commented on how much she loved my home and how she feels bad because hers is never that clean and put together. That is when complete shock and laughter overtook me. My house rarely looks like it does in the “finished” photos I place here on the blog. Friends, I have an artistic personality, I work all the time, and on top of that one of my jobs is set decorating (which means I buy and store a ton of stuff). In the past week, I have completed 3 sets and this is the aftermath. . .

YIKES, right! What a disaster! And you should see the bedroom! So, all that to say please forgive me for missing a couple of posts last week (I have barely had time to eat much less blog) and please don’t ever feel like I’ve got it all together and you need to step up your game. . . obviously things are far from picture perfect in the Paslay household! 🙂

Needless to say, I spent my weekend cleaning! But I did manage to make time for a small project. It’s an easy, cheap, and fantastically gorgeous DIY that you can do in a few minutes! Check it out!

We all love the beautiful blue glass mason jars, but if you’re buying more than a few, they can get very costly. So, why not turn the clear jars you’ve got lying around into that eye catching vintage blue. . . or any other color for that matter! I was talking to my new friend Emily about designing and blog stuff when she showed me the photos of this process she recently took on. With her permission, I am sharing her photos here. Visit Emily’s blog, Putting Down Roots, to see more of Emily’s projects!

Here’s what you will need: a canning jar, mod podge, and food coloring.

Step 1– Mix 1 teaspoon mod podge, 1 1/2 teaspoons of water, and 3 drops of food coloring.

Step 2– Then use a brush to paint the solution either on the inside or outside of the jar.

Emily found that the darker the color was, the more the streaks showed.

But by going a little lighter with the coloring any streaks virtually disappear.

Leaving the jars in this current state would mean the coloring is temporary (it could easily be removed with soap and water) but Emily also mentioned she had heard there are ways to make the color permanent, so I did a little research and have a few more tips to share with you.

Tip #1- By swishing the solution around in the jar rather than brushing it on and by using a little less water you can avoid brushstrokes and get a little better coverage.

Tip #2- If you want to make this look permanent, wait until the solution is mostly dry and then place the jar(s) in a cool oven. Then turn the oven on to the lowest setting and allow the jars to bake for 20 minutes (I actually let mine bake for about an hour just to be sure. This will make the coloring permanent! The baking also eliminates any streaks that you may still have.

Here’s how my jar turned out!

Before

My jar draining- I decided to just pour the solution in the jar and swish it around and then drain it. I used just a little bit of water, mod podge, and food coloring. I also tried a pink jar that had only a mod podge and red food coloring solution in it.

As you can see, the solution with no water added coated a little better, but both turned out really well after being baked.

After being baked!

The baking was supposed to make the coloring permanent and when it was dry I could not scratch the coloring off. But when I put water into the jar, it started to get cloudy and I could scratch the coloring off from the inside. So needless to say, I probably won’t use it as a vase. A few minutes after I removed the water however, the jar returned to normal – so I might do some more experimenting. Please let me know if you have any experience with this process!

 

Here’s a little comparison to show you how well the jar took the coloring. You could also do a couple of coats to make the color darker.

I have no photo of the pink glass because I tried some different things with it afterwards and it didn’t turn out. But it was very pretty and you should definitely try out some different colors!

This project literally took like 5 minutes of work time and the end product is just lovely! Try it for yourself and send Emily and I some photos! Thanks again Emily for showing me such a fun and easy project!