Mercury Glass

According to Wisegeek.com , mercury glass is a glass with a silvery appearance but contains no mercury. Whew! That’s good to know since buildings and schools have been evacuated  and closed for several days while HAZMAT teams do their thing all because someone dropped a thermometer.


The real mercury glass never contained mercury because it was too expensive to produce and was hazardous. Instead the glass was double walled and infiltrated from the bottom with liquid silver nitrate. For more views of mercury glass you can always visit PINTEREST.


I really like the look of it so I scouted the NET and went to source after source to see how they achieved the faux mercury glass look. 



I bought this heavy bell shaped vase
at a flea market for 75 cents. It measures
10" x 6"



After faux mercury. The light you see is from
the flash of the camera. (Why do bathroom
photos always turn out so great?)

Just as an experiment I decided to silver glaze a sea shell and a wooden knob I had laying around.

The materials I used were Krylon Looking Glass spray paint, half and half  water and vinegar in a mist type sprayer,  You will want to have droplets on your vase or whatever so that the paint will have the distressed look when it dries.
 If there are streaks, that's good too.



Materials needed

 Paper towels or rag to blot with and gloves (optional). 

Once again number 2 photo is MIAI did this project outdoors because I didn't know how noxious the fumes might be.
Tutorials on the WEB were inconsistent as to whether to spray the paint inside of the vase or outside of the vase,   I chose to mist the outside.

In photo 3 as soon as I misted with water I sprayed the vase lightly with the looking glass paint. 

• After about 45 seconds I lightly dabbed the area just painted. I did this all the way around the vase, left it outside in the sun for about an hour.
• I came back after the hour and redid the entire process.

I took this photo outside under the
 shade of the porch after I'd done the
treatment a second time.



Inside of the vase



The shell turned out great but
the wooden knob not so.



Unfortunately great photos by amateur photographers is difficult but the lamps give the vase a  cozy look.

The paint is a little pricey  ($8 for about 5 ounces)  for the teeny bit you get but  after spending 75 cents on the vase, who's complaining?

I will be trying this technique with more glass items.

THAT'S IT***

Beads, glass, keys, trinkets????

What do you do with all of the beads, broken jewelry and other trinkets in your craft stash? This is what I did.The inspiration(below) came from Crafts by Amanda   to which I subscribed for future inspirational ideas.

Copied from Crafts by Amanda

Just about all of the "stuff" I have was given to me. Once friends and acquaintances know that you enjoy crafting from "junque" (that's the fancy spelling) you will get all kinds of goodies whether you want them or not. Below is a sample of some of those goodies.

There's broken jewelry, plastic beads, glass marbles, keys, lenses from glasses,earrings.

Those paper clips are good for keeping beads in place.

The cascades are done and ready to be attached to the pitcher. I didn't want to use my store bought jump rings so I made my own from wire I already had.

I really wanted a metal tea pot or coffee pot for the cascades to hang from. Thrift stores are not as thrifty as they once were. What I wanted cost $6.99. I bought the pitcher you see for $2.99 and also got a seniors discount since it was seniors day.

The paint was left over from a 75 cent vase I'd sprayed to look like mercury glass. 

I had to sand it a bit so that the paint would adhere.

I'm pleased with the paint job though it didn't come out with a mirrored finish. I realized afterwards that the mirrored finish would only work on glass. (Duh?)

It reminds me of a vintage milk pitcher. I sprayed a top coat of lacquer on it also. I expect it to rust and age after being out in the weather and that will only add to the character of it.

Time to put in the holes. I probably didn't have the right bit for the drill, so I made pilot holes and then finished by using a long screw, screwing it in until  I had a decent hole and then unscrewing it counter clockwise. Thank goodness for cordless drills. I didn't soften the holes so anyone touching it may get a cut. But, no one is supposed to be examining it anyway.

I have five  holes but seven bead cascades. This is where you ask me, "How do you spell lazy?"


Yes, I know the bed needs to be weeded but that's not the focus right now.

 VOILA'

I expect  the neighborhood cats to tear it down. It will have lasted for a short while.
That's it ***