Painted Vases for Home Decor

Do you have a cupboard or a shelf somewhere that is holding a plethora of glass vases?  Perhaps from birthdays over the years?

I do – or rather I did until I saw this image from the cover of FrontGate Magazine (Feb.2017 issue)

I hang on to pages from magazines and keep them tucked away in a binder – I call it my “I can do that” stash.

Those vases making up the centrepiece of that table probably aren’t painted vases.  More likely they are spectacular blown-glass pieces from a very talented artist.

That’s not to say you can’t make your own version of these using old vases or dollar store glass pieces.

I pulled a few vases out of my cupboard in varying heights and shapes and then went to my tester pot stash and pulled a few colours together that I thought went with my decor, as well as with each other.

I poured varying amounts into a mason jar; enough to what I guesstimated would cover the outside edges of a single vase.

I tried this two ways; first where I poured this mixture, exactly as you see it here, along the inside edges of a vase and second, where I gave this mixture two gentle stirs to mix the colours together slightly.

I preferred my painted vases with the mixture slightly stirred.

I poured the paint along the inside edge of the vase, about halfway down the height of the glass, rotating until I had all the sides covered.  After that I turned the vase upside-down so that the paint would run the opposite direction and cover the upper edges.

The excess paint went back into the mason jar for the next painted vase.

It’s a bit messy and I did manage to break two vases when they slipped out of my wet-paint hands.

The outside of the painted vase showed more of the navy blue, where the insides showed more of the greige.  I think both are gorgeous.

I changed up the quantities of paint in my mason jar to give each painted vase a slightly different take on the same colour palette.

If you don’t like how your vases turn out, simply wash out the paint before it dries.

I left the painted vases on the counter to dry, and once they were, I used a box cutter (X-Acto knife) to scrape the upper rim and remove any paint spills that had drooled down the outsides.

They are SO PRETTY!

I should mention that none of these are suitable for flowers anymore.  The paint will peel off the glass and the flowers will die pretty quickly.  The small fern you see in the picture sits in a plastic cup which I dropped into the vase first.

By painting the inside of the vases, you get that smooth-glass sheen that makes them appear to be blown glass.

I wonder if I would have had more striations if I’d applied the paint with a syringe and sprayed it in different patterns?  Hmmm, something to try next time.

I used paints from other projects I’ve worked on in the past, but if you have any leftover (latex) paint from your walls or furniture, this would be a great use for it – and would keep your decor consistent.

Stagger your painted vases on shelves for a hint of colour spread throughout a room.  Use them to hold makeup brushes on your bathroom counter, or pencils on your desk.

I might need to make one more large one to give my vignette a bit of height.

I think I prefer my painted vase display outside of the tray as well.

Total expenditure on these painted vases?

$0

• Vases were tucked away in a cupboard, unused.
• Paint was from previous projects and tester pots I’d accumulated over time.
• No paintbrushes needed and I washed out the mason jar so I can still use it again down the road.

You’ve gotta love a free (but gorgeous) DIY right?!

Have a great one!

 

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