photo by: Julie Anderson

The candle holder creates a warm effect.

photo by: Julie Anderson

The candle holder creates a warm effect.

I love the look of mercury glass.  I don’t own any pieces, but I had seen these mercury glass pumpkins online at Nell Hills and Pottery Barn.  When I tried purchasing them from Pottery Barn, the pumpkins were sold out.  

So, I started to search online for other retailers that carried the pumpkins, but then ultimately decided to save my money.  However,  I did find instructions on how you can use spray paint to create the look of mercury glass.

After viewing several tutorials, I decided to try my hand at it.  I purchased Krylon silver spray paint in high gloss finish.

I set up my work station outside.  I gathered some glass objects to use for my experiment.  

I started out by following instructions that said to spray paint the inside of the glass piece first in light coats.  Then once the paint dries, take equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle and spritz over the paint.  The acid in the vinegar is supposed to give you the desired mercury glass look. Because you are painting only the interior of the glass, make sure you protect the outside by wrapping it in plastic.

photo by: Julie Anderson

Because you are painting only the interior of the candle holder you have to protect the outside from the spray paint. Cover the outside with plastic wrap and painter's tape helps keep the wrap in place.

Everything was going along as described until I got to the vinegar spritz.  Nothing happened.  The paint did not react as suggested.  Well, so much for that theory.

So I started over with another piece.  This time I spritzed plain old water on the inside of the glass first, then I used a light coat of paint.  Guess what?  This seemed to work.  The paint started to bubble and in some areas did not coat.  It’ s working.  You can spritz and apply the paint as much as needed to achieve the look you want. I decided to spritz some water on the initial piece and spray a light coat of paint over that, and after repeating the steps several times, the paint started to react. Cool!

The final result didn’t really look like mercury glass, but I did like the effect.  I’m thinking the problem being, I didn’t use the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint.  I was at Walmart when I decided to try this, and all they had was the high gloss metallic.  So, the next time I’m out and about, I’ll look for the looking glass paint and try again.

Let me know if you’ve tried this technique and what your results are.  Or if you’ve tried your own DIY mercury glass project, I’d love to hear to from you.