DIY Mercury Glass (My Version)

Before I proceed with the planned post, I wanted to quickly give you all an update on my blogging status if you will.  Life around here is pretty hectic right about now!  Until it calms down, there won't be much post-writing and even less DIYing, baking, etc.  Luckily, I had pretty much expected this to be the case and through some combination of nesting and insomnia in the final weeks of my pregnancy, I actually have quite a few posts I have yet to share with you (including the one below!).  So hopefully, by the time I get around to sharing those past goodies with you, I will be back and ready and able to start working on some new stuff!  Fingers crossed, but for now...back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Once I finished creating our winter mantle, I was left a little less than satisfied.  It was headed in the right direction, but was just a bit too white and bland for me:

See what I mean?  So I started brainstorming what else I could add (quickly/easily/budget friendly) and remembered a DIY Mercury Glass tutorial I had pinned a few weeks back.  With a few votives from the Dollar Store already laying around the house, I figured a can of spray paint was certainly a justifiable purchase.So, I headed out to hunt down some Krylon Looking Glass Paint.
 Before we proceed, let's talk about this paint.  It's pretty cool stuff, but it's $12 for a can...and when I say can, it's not actually your typical-sized spray paint can.  It's about half that size.  But then again, mercury glass vases and things are pretty darn expensive, so I consider it a fair price!  If you decide to hunt it down yourself, my research shows that it is only in two stores reliably: Michael's and Hobby Lobby.  I got mine from a Michael's, and at least there, it is actually with the glass etching and painting supplies, not the rest of the paints.  Mine was on a very bottom shelf, so look carefully before giving up!  It is, of course, on Amazon and a few other online sites if you're more patient than me and can wait for shipping time.
I should also mention that there are actually a few different DIY Mercury Glass tutorials already on the web (including one from Ms. Martha Stewart).  I looked through them and kind of combined/edited them to come up with what I believed was my best version.  I'm certainly not saying I'm more crafty than Martha, but   this is what worked for me.
Wanna see what I mean?  Here's one DIY votive final result:

So, now you wanna make your own, right?  Well, here we go...to make your own DIY Mercury Glass, you will need:

• clear glass of some kind (whatever you want to create...vases, votives, windows, etc)
• Krylon Looking Glass Paint
• spray bottle, filled with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water
• drying rack

This project is actually really easy to accomplish, but you need to be careful with the paint as it comes out really quick and runny.  To start, spray the inside of the glass votive (or whatever you are using) with the vinegar/water.  Don't rub it or anything...you want the dots.  Afterwards, apply a quick, thin coat of the paint to the inside as well (remember easy does it...the paint trigger is super sensitive and fast!).  Flip the votive over and allow it to air out on the drying rack.  Martha's version just called for doing this once, but the paint can actually said to do five thin coats, so after looking at how dull my one coat looked, this is where I decided to one up Martha.  Allowing about a minute of drying time in between, I applied five thin coats of the paint to make the votives look even more metallic.  I definitely think the extra coats (and five extra minutes) were definitely worth it!

Be careful with each coat that the paint only gets on the inside of the votive and doesn't run along the outside.  If it does, just wipe it off with a paper towel before it has a chance to dry...you only want paint on the inside of the glass!

After I had applied the final coat of paint, I quickly and roughly went over it with a paper towel dampened with the water/vinegar to scruff up some of the spots and make the whole thing look more mercury and not just metallic...does that make sense?
That's it!  I left mine to dry for about 24 hours.  Just as a heads up, I was a bit wary of putting actual candles in these votives since the spray paint was actually on the inside, so I used the flameless ones in mine.  I'm not positive this is necessary, but it just made more sense to me!
Oh, and now that they are done, a couple were added to our mantle and given it just the bit of extra shine that I think it needed: