It's easy to add a vintage touch to your Christmas tree with these DIY Vintage Mercury Glass Ornaments made with spray paint, water, and white vinegar.
This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.
I used to switch up the theme of our Christmas tree every year. But the past two or three years, I've been decorating the tree in a classic retro Christmas theme. You can't go wrong with traditional Christmas decorations. It's so cozy and I get to add a lot of my vintage (and vintage inspired) ornaments to the tree.
A couple of my favorite vintage inspired ornaments are mercury glass ornaments I received from my sister many years ago. They're made with a silver faux finish that makes them look like antiques. I wanted to add a few more faux mercury glass ornaments to the tree this year. But since even the imitation ornaments are a bit pricey, I decided to make my own.
There are so many tutorials online about how to make faux mercury glass ornaments. The majority of them use the same technique - paint completely inside the ornament and use a blow dryer to dry the paint. It doesn't seem like you have too much control over the coverage and when you work strictly inside the ornament. So I decided to try my own technique.
Like the other tutorials, I did start inside the ornament. I sprayed a few bursts of coppery metallic spray paint inside the ornament along with a mixture of 50% water and 50% vinegar. Then, I covered the opening of the ornament with a paper towel and shook it. After that, I painted the outside with a few spritzes of looking glass spray paint and the vinegar mixture.
Using a paper towel, I lightly blotted the water/vinegar drops away and allowed the paint to dry completely. Then, I added the metal hanger back onto the ornament and tied velvet ribbon to hang.
DIY Vintage Mercury Glass Ornaments
I love how these ornaments turned out! They definitely have a vintage feel to them and painting on the outside, as well as the inside, gives them a bit of an aged, textured look.
Make sure you do this project in a well-ventilated area - preferably outside. Remove the metal hangers from clear glass ornaments and spray a few short bursts of metallic gold or copper paint inside. Follow by spraying a mixture of 50% water and 50% white vinegar inside.
Cover the opening of the ornament with a paper towel and shake, shake, shake! Then, allow the ornament to dry, open-side-down (I did this by placing the ornament on an old rod holder).
Next, I lightly sprayed looking glass spray paint on the outside of the ornament and followed with the water/white vinegar mixture. This time, I took a paper towel and gently blotted the water droplets off the ornament. Then, I allowed the paint to dry completely.
You could also spray the metal hangers to give them an aged look or leave them as is. Once the ornament has dried, you can put the hangers back on, tie them with velvet ribbon, and hang on the tree.
SUPPLIES
- Glass ornaments
- Metallic spray paint, gold or copper
- Looking glass spray paint
- Small spray bottle filled with 50% water and 50% white vinegar
- Paper towels
- Disposable gloves
- Velvet ribbon
STEPS
- Remove metal hanger from glass ornament. Outside, or in a well-ventilated area, spray a few quick bursts of metallic gold or copper spray paint inside the ornament.
- Follow by spray the vinegar mixture inside the ornament. Swirl the ornament. Then, cover the opening with a paper towel and aggressively shake to remove excess paint and water and dry.
- Lightly spray outside of ornament with looking glass spray paint. Then, spray with vinegar mixture.
- Use a paper towel to gently pat the water/vinegar droplets dry. Then, dry ornament completely.
- Once dry, place metal hanger back onto ornament. Tie with velvet ribbon and hang on tree.
Not only do these ornaments give the Christmas tree a gorgeous vintage look, they'd make beautiful handmade gifts, as well! Tie them with pretty ribbon and wrap them in a box.
Did you make this DIY Vintage Mercury Glass Ornaments project? Share it on social media using the hashtag #holokahome. Don’t forget to tag me @holokahome!
