DIY Mercury Glass

I love me some Heidi...and this is just one more reason why! Thanks Heidi for being so crafty!!


DIY Mercury Glass {Tutorial}

Lately I've been daydreaming about the mercury glass accessories that seem to be all the rage these days. I've fallen in love with a few pieces, but I just can't justify spending any money on breakable objects with a crazy toddler on the loose around here. Aren't these lovely, though?

(both photos above from West Elm)

I'm pretty sure that I actually NEED this lamp.

But like I said, I'm not about to purchase breakables, so I set out to try to recreate the look myself. I have to preface this tutorial by saying that I used a shiny silver metallic paint that I had on-hand for my faux mercury glass, and I really like the look of the more brushed finish; however, if you want a super shiny mirrored finish you can use Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Spray Paint to achieve that look using these same steps.

I used items that I already had hiding out in my cupboards - a couple of assorted clear glass votive holders and a square glass vase that was leftover from my sister's wedding (thanks, Kari!).

Start with these basic supplies: your glassware, metallic spray paint and a spray bottle that will spray in a fine mist.

Mist the inside of your glass with water, and spray it with the silver paint while the water is still wet.

I found that I really liked the way it looked when I sprayed water, then silver paint, and then a bit of water again. Continue to add layers of water and silver paint until you get the desired look. If you want your "mercury glass" to look shiny, you can stop at this point (like I did for my votive holders) or proceed to the next step for more of an aged finish...

Dark mercury glass has a bit of a gold-black finish, so I mixed a drop or two of black paint to a few tablespoons of metallic gold paint and lightly dabbed the mixture inside of my vase to fill in the blank spaces.

These pictures make it look a lot blacker that it really is, but for some reason the camera just isn't capturing the gold very well (perhaps because my camera is thisclose to death, and half of these photos were actually taken with my phone!).

You can see the difference between the aged look on the vase and the shinier look of the votive holders. I'm still not sure which one I like best, but I like the variety when they're all together.

Quick and easy way to add a little shine to your mantle...if you're like me, you probably already have the supplies just laying around. So what are you waiting for!?

This is what it looks like with the flash on, but really I just wanted to show off my cute new sign that I made last night too ;)