Drab to Fab: Glass Luminaries

Halloween is a great time to use your imagination, decorating your home and even yourself for a fun time with friends and family.  One way to get creative is by using one of my favorite and most diverse items at the Southport Antique Mall, mason jars.  If you’ve been following our newsletter, you’ve seen mason jars be used as vases and centerpieces for weddings, but they are also great for other events and holidays as well.

Using a mason jar (and in this case a glass fish bowl) is a very simple, low maintenance project that will add a bit of fun to your Halloween celebration.  And don’t forget, if you aren’t much for Halloween, these projects can easily be transferred to make wonderful fall time decorations for your home!  The options are unlimited, but for the purpose of this newsletter, we will focus on Halloween decorations that you and/or your kids can create.

Below are step-by-step instructions for creating your very own ghostly jar that is a perfect replacement for paper luminaries that can be dangerous and wasteful.  Instead of those, line your sidewalk with a brightly lit, imaginatively created, safer alternative.  Also, see instructions for making your very own fish bowl jack-o-lantern.  The mess is less and you have a piece that you and your children can enjoy for years to come.

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Creating Your Own Ghostly Jar

Step One:    Paint the inside of the jar with white acrylic paint.  Don’t worry about getting it completely even and use only one coat because we want to be able to see the light through the layer of white paint.

Step Two:    Using the color of your choice (I chose gray), paint the outside of the jar.  Here, you will need to do at least three or more coats for full coverage in order to block the light.   You will need to allow each layer to completely dry before applying the next.

Step Three:   Once the last layer of paint completely dries, draw the shape of your ghost with pencil.  You then can use any sort of sharp object (butter knife, 
fingernail file, safety pin, ect) to simply scratch the paint off in your desired shape.  You should now be able to see the white paint through your cutout shape.

Step four:      Outline the ghost in glitter glue (I 
                      chose silver).

Step Five:       Hot glue two black buttons for eyes  
                      and one for the mouth.

Step Six:         Apply a clear coat to seal the paint.

Step Seven:     Place candle in the jar and light.

Step Eight:       Enjoy the ghostly glow!

The jar looks adorable in the day time!

Creating a Glass Bowl Jack-o-Lantern

Step One:        Paint at least three layers of orange   paint on the outside of a glass fishbowl.  Remember, just like the mason jars, you must let each layer dry   
before attempting the other because glass is such a slippery surface. 

Step Two:        Draw on the surface your desired face 
                        or design using a pencil.

Step Three:      Scrape the paint off of the bowl where 
                        the eyes and mouth are located.

Step Four:        Apply black glitter glue over the  
                        unpainted areas of the bowl.

Step Five:        Paint the inside of the bowl with a darker orange or gray.  This will help block the light from shining through unwanted areas.

Step Six:           Apply a clear coat to seal the paint and let dry.  Use the bowl as a candy bowl or a luminary.