What Else Have I Missed?

Sometimes I come upon ideas rather late, and this was one of those times.  Does everyone but me know about creating faux Mercury glass with Krylon Looking Glass paint?  When I was looking at examples of another idea over at Pinterest, I came across the Mercury glass thing.  I thought it was very cool; I also thought it might make the perfect gift for a friend's birthday.  So I went right out and tracked down a few pieces of glass and a can of Looking Glass spray paint.  Here's what the birthday gift looked like when it was done--I also added a ribbon and I decorated a grape ivy wreath for it to sit in.

But before it was all dressed up, here's what it looked like, along with a small globe glass, holding faux candles--I love these flickery, battery operated candles, don't you?  The one I bought for my friend's hurricane glass uses fairly normal batteries (AAA) and has a timer that will turn itself on at the same time every night for five hours and then turn itself off again.  Amazing!

So here are the necessary supplies--the Looking Glass paint, a generic spray bottle filled with water . . .

. . . and glass that's been taped off.  The paint is applied to the inside of the glass, so I've used sandwich bags and masking tape to cover the outsides of the glass.  I did the same thing with the hurricane glass but used a larger bag.

First I sprayed a very fine mist of water on the insides of the glasses.  This was done to keep the paint from adhering uniformly.  After that, I began lightly spraying the paint, building it up over the course of several (five to seven) coats and allowing them to dry for a minute or two between each coat.  The paint is thin and runs easily; it's recommended that if the paint begins to run, the glass should be turned upside down.

Once I had a heavy enough layer of paint, I allowed the glass to dry for five to ten minutes.  There are a couple different methods that can be used at this point.  Some recommend simply wiping the insides gently with a damp paper towel and some recommend first spraying the insides with a 50/50 vinegar-water solution, letting it sit for a little bit, and then wiping away some of the paint.  I tried the vinegar-water spray and it worked fine.  The idea is to remove some of the paint so it looks like an aged piece of Mercury glass or an antique mirror.

After the glass thoroughly dried for about an hour or so, I applied a couple more light coats of the paint, just enough to "fog" the clear glass areas.  I'm not much for bright and shiny silver, so once the paint dried again, I also wiped and dabbed the insides with an acrylic stain to "age" the silver a bit.

I also thought it would be a good idea to seal the surface with a couple coats of varnish.  By the time I was done with all that a day or so later, I tried the pieces out with faux candles and decided too much of the paint had been removed, so I sort of began again.  This time I just misted a little water and then sprayed a few coats of Looking Glass paint.  Between everything I'd already done, that last application of the paint seemed to "crackle" or pucker up a little in places, which was EXACTLY perfect!

Click HERE to check out the blog I started out reading from Take the Side Street and see her results.  Wouldn't these make romantic Christmas decorations?  Or great Christmas gifts?  I think so!