Marthable Elves: Mercury Glass Craft (the Spoils of Which I Have Cheerfully Reaped)

Booya!

Not only did my friends Anne and Amanda graciously agree to jot down some notes and snap some photos of the night they spent making mercury glass objects via Martha’s instructions (January 2010 issue of Living), they also GAVE ME A BUNCH OF THE GLASS! What absolute peaches!

Two shady people about to get rich selling mercury glass to naive antiquers. Just kidding, it's Anne and Amanda!

Without further ado, an evening with spray paint, cheap glass objects, a helpful dog, and two Marthable elves (hey, they called themselves that, I’m just helping it catch on).

Stuff you’ll need:

• Spray bottle filled with water
• Mirror spray paint
• Newspaper
• Painters tape
• An assortment of inexpensive glass objects
• A large dog
• I dunno, maybe some rags

Steps (quotes are from Anne’s notes):

1. Prepare your objects

Washing the glass.  EASY!

Wash the glass! It is "EASY!"

2. Protect outsides of objects

Wrapping all of the vessels. PAIN!  You don’t need to do it.  Just use painter’s tape or masking tape and do the edge.

Wrapped glass! "PAIN!"

3. Applying coats of mirror paint, spraying with water between coats to get that mottled look

Spraying water and paint.  USE RESTRAINT AND WAIT!  You don’t need that much water (spray sparingly) and when you paint, hold the vessel away from you to provide some distance between the vessel and the paint can.  Otherwise, you use too much paint and it pools at the bottom.  One coat will NOT give you the look that you want.  You need to apply MULTIPLE coats.  I’m not even sure what coat I’m on.  Maybe 7th?  You’ll want to wait at least 10 minutes before each coat so it dries.  If you don’t wait, you just waste paint because it makes everything else run.

After a few coats

Some more helpful tips from the mercury-glasserizers:

• Spraying outside is better than indoors – OBVS.
• Do not spray towards your helper.
• If you are really concerned about VOCs – stay away from this project.  Your mucous membranes could be destroyed by then end of this.
• Make sure you have enough room and you aren’t a total klutz – lots of glass around!  (Amanda broke one glass frame, I stepped on one today and somehow one bud vase fell off our hobo drying rack, i.e. a rack from the dryer perched on top of a wobbly box)
• You’ll probably want 3 cans of the paint (they are skinny bottles), gloves (unless you want silver robot hands), screwdriver for opening the can of paint, drop cloth

And now, some final inspirational pictures so you too can get moving and make me some mercury glass!

Boogy selects frame, wishes he could communicate that Amanda is hogging the paint bottle

Things you will need

Mercury mirrors!

Totally antiqued, guys!