A Cute Autumn Vase

It all started with a trip to my favorite nursery, Homestead Gardens. I'm looking for fall plants to spruce up my entry way and this place offers great ideas for what type of plants to use and how to arrange them.  But before reaching the outside area you have to walk through an indoor area showing off their gorgeous arrangements of  fall decor. (I'll show some pictures I took on a later post)  I came across a little vase no more than three inches tall that inspired me to try my hand at painting a glass container.  Something I've never done.

Homestead Gardens Inspiration

I've seen quite a few posts on painting glass containers. The most memorable (because I love purple)  was by Martha Stewart in which she featured glass cake domes painted in shades of purple.

 The easiest one, in my opinion, was here, by SandandSisal. The directions were easy to follow and you needed just a few items.  With my lack of patience, I manage to reduce the steps even more.

First off, don't know if you recognize the dollar store glass and the 32cent (on sale) bottle of  metallic bronze acrylic paint. Cheap, huh?  The directions call for mixing one tablespoon of paint and one tablespoon of nail polish remover together in a "disposable" cup.  I get my nail polish remover at a beauty supply store in a plastic bottle under the label of acetone. It's much cheaper that way.  Little did I know that when you pour acetone into a plastic cup it would eat right through. This is what happened to me.  After wiping up the spill, I got a ceramic cup and mixed the two together.  Once mixed, I poured the paint into the glass vase and swirled it around.

I made sure the paint completely covered the inside of the vase, including the lip.  I let the excess paint drip back into the cup.*  This is where I deviated from the directions.  It said to "pour the excess paint back into your cup and allow your vase to drain upside down on a folded paper towel. Place it on a parchment or foil lined cookie sheet. Allow it to drain for a few minutes and then turn it upright and allow it to dry over night."

I didn't place my vase on a folded paper towel or on  parchment paper or a foil lined cookie sheet.  I just held it while it drained back into the cup, until the paint wasn't draining any more.  This only took a few minutes.  I thought the folded paper towel would interfere with the finished look at the top of the vase.
I did let the vase dry overnight in an upright position.  Next day, I placed the vase on a parchment lined cookie sheet and put it in a cold oven.  I set the temperature to 200 degrees for two hours.  After the two hours I  turned off the oven and let the vase cool along with the oven. Once the oven was cool I removed the vase.

It was perfect. 

Next, I got out my floral wire and stash of bead fillers.  After cutting the wire about 36 inches long, I threaded beads and twisted the wire at 1/2-3/4 inch intervals until I could wrap the beaded wire around the neck of the vase. I enjoyed doing this .  .  . choosing different colors and sizes of beads. 

After adding a few floral mixes .  .   .   . I have  .   .   .   .

                                                    A Cute Autumn Vase!


Enjoy!







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