How to get the mercury glass look

Mercury glass decor items are popping up everywhere. It adds a nice grown up sparkle without looking stuffy. And when you can get away with adding sparkle in your home without demasculizing your husband, by all means – do it.

My inspiration:

Photo Credit: Vases, Lamp, Hurricane

I picked up the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint at Craft Warehouse, gasped at the price and put it back. Then I remembered I had my 50% coupon so I went for it. Finding glass pieces wasn’t hard, I LOVE collecting different glass items and who doesn’t love the good ole mason jar. So while baby was sleeping and my four-year old was treated to some Angry Birds time on the computer, I set out to get this project done.

I started by spraying the items with 3-4 very light coats of the paint, giving five minutes of dry time or so in between each coat. Tip: spray on very, very light coats, and spray the inside of your item. When the paint dries, the mirror side will be on the outside – and the inside will be matte.

And then things got interesting. When I went back out to check on them, our sprinkler system was going full-bore in the backyard and they were dripping wet. Why the sprinklers were on at two in the afternoon I do not know…what is it with men and constantly working on their perfect lawns? It’s like they are an extension of their…well you know.

Anyway, I brought them inside and tried to dry them off but the paint started coming off in patches. Lovely. So I tried painting again even though there were still some areas of paint on them that I couldn’t get off.

After the second attempt at painting them, I put together a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water in a spray bottle and gave them a thorough spray.

After sitting for a few minutes I started to gently wipe off the vinegar mixture, leaving behind the scratched and bubbled imperfections.

What do you think?