Pinterest Inspired Craft – Green Looking Glass Vases

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I am always pinning crafty ideas on Pinterest and several of them are about creating Faux Mercury Glass pieces. I had some old green glass florist vases on hand and thought they would be the perfect thing to try out for this project.

DIY Antiqued Mercury Glass on 17 Apart

I have found several tutorials and chose this one by 17 Apart because it focused on painting the outside of the glass. Since my glass was green I knew painting the inside might not work. Plus, I want to actually use these as flower vases and paint on the inside might not last long.

So, here is what I started with: green glass florist vases, spray paint and a water and vinegar resist mixture.

It’s pretty simple. Make sure your vases are clean and dry. Then lightly spritz with the resist mixture and spray lightly with the paint.

After each light layer you let them dry and then lightly pat with a rag or paper towel to remove the areas over the resist mixture, creating “holes” in the paint. Then you just repeat the process. It took several coats, mainly I think because of the green glass.

The more coats the better the vases looked. I also sprayed a little inside the tops, since you will see this part when the vases are empty.

And you can also start to see how the resist is staring to work. There will be spots where the paint does not adhere.

And I did coat the bottoms lightly. Just not as much, since that part really won’t be seen as much.

And here is how they turned out. Remember, these were just ho-hum green glass florist vases to start with.

With flowers the vases look awesome. I love how they turned out.

No longer just a Plain Jane bud vase.

And no longer just a large boring nobby vase. These look great on our deck with fresh cut flowers from the garden.

I think I will chalk this up as a success. The vases are not as Mercury Glass looking as the tutorial, but I used green glass and was able to transform it into something new to use on our deck. I do like the distressed look of antique silver finish and will enjoy filling them with flowers and cuttings from the garden.