A few weeks ago I turned mason jars into lanterns. If you’re going to paint these and frost them like I am, save the lantern part for very last. You’ll need to cook these on low heat. Heat plus metal = hot. If you’ve already made the lanterns be careful and keep them out of reach of little paws/hands/curiousness while they cool. Or, just turn the oven of and let them cool in there once you’re done.
That being said this all started at the flea market a few weekends ago. There’s something about vintage blue mason jars that are charming and sweet and….expensive? Holy smokes. Mr. A and I went to the flea market a few weekends ago. We found all sorts of cool things – none of which we bought. Mr. A found some really rusty old lathe tools. At the same vendor I found some vintage blue mason jars. They were beautiful. They were original. They were $11 dollars, PER JAR?
I came home and scoured the internet. That had to be highway flea market robbery. No luck. I came across blog after blog on different ways of making them but nothing appealed to me more than Creative Little Daisy. A perfect excuse to use that 40% off coupon at AC Moore to try Mod Podge.
Directions:
UPDATE: After writing this yesterday I kept thinking about it, and decided I needed to do a few more jars, and update you with a completed project, correctly. This really does work beautifully. So, I’ve changed things below to show you what does work, and what doesn’t.
1.) Put something protective down like a piece of cardboard or layers of newspaper. You’ll be dumping these over to drain – use something thick or else you will stain your surface. Get your mason jars (preferably without the lantern part already attached like super smart me) and pour about an 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of Luster Mod Podge into one of them. This did about 4 pint jars for me.
2.) In a container you don’t care about staining, put in about two teaspoons of water. Add food coloring and mix well until dissolved. Pour into Mod Podge and mix well. While my first batch was blue, my second batch dried much more green than I imagined and I adored it.
3.) Swirl until completely coated and then pour into your next jar. Repeat on all jars. Once completed and drained well, turn over so you don’t end up with a puddle in the bottom. This is why you want a thick piece of protection beneath them.
4.) Once fully drained, place jars in the cold oven and heat to the lowest setting. This will reduce chance of breakage. Bake for about 20 minutes to set the MP mixture. As long as your MP mixture was thick enough, you should turn out with a nice evenly coated jar that is gorgeous. If you’re cautious, let them dry about 50% and then place in the oven. As Mod Podge is also used for glue, make sure to turn them right side up to dry or they will stick to your draining surface.
My “green” batch turned out great. I decided to let this batch dry without putting in the oven first. Now that they are 90% dry I will bake them to set the mixture. It’s unnecessary to wait this long though. I wish you could really see how emerald green these are in person.
If you don’t get it the first time, try try again.
Happy Crafting,
Heather
P.S.) Don’t use these for preserving, drinking, or any sort of any kind of any food. Decoration only.
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