Mercury Vases

My latest crush is on mercury vases.  I recently bought one at this antiques shop, and fell in love.  I started researching how I could make this on my own for a lot cheaper.  From everything I read, it looked fairly simple, so I gave it a go.

What you need:
Looking glass spray paint
Spray Bottle
White Vinegar
Water
Glass vases/mason jars
Paper towels

Spray paint outdoors or in a well ventilated area

Directions:
1. Make sure your glass vase is clean and dry.

2. Shake equal parts white vinegar and water into a spray bottle.  I started with 1/4 cup because that was the smallest measuring cup I had. I ended up throwing a lot away, so you could definitely start with less.

3. Standing at least a 1 foot away, lightly spray the vase making sure that the vinegar-water solution doesn't get drippy on the glass.  If it does, (it did for me the first few times), immediately wipe it off with a paper towel and start over.

4. Spray the looking glass spray paint right on top of the vinegar-water solution.  It should have a bubbly look. Wait at least 30min to dry before handling.

5. As an option, you can use the paper towels to wipe or rub some sections of the vase to give it a really old mercury feel.  I decided not to since I really liked how it turned out without wiping.

6. Once the vase dries, you can repeat steps 3-5 until the vase looks exactly how you want. I repeated it 1 additional time to get the mirror glass look that I wanted.

The taller vases are great for long stem flowers

Mason jars and bottom heavy vases are great for candles

All of the mercury pieces together

Enhanced the tablescape by adding pitchers of hydrangeas and spider roses

Time spent:
Approximately 45minutes (excluding dry time) for 3 vases

Estimated cost: $25
The biggest cost will be the Looking Glass Spray Paint that retails for around $13.