Weddingbee Blog

After ditching my initial wedding inspiration, I had a new-found determination to define a style that fit me and Mr. Hawk. Not long after beginning my search, I fell in love again. Lightning had struck twice. This time, though, it didn’t feel forced. (I swear, it felt like the skies parted and the wedding gods smiled upon me.)

Image via The Zella Guide / Photo by Stephanie Williams Photography

I ADORED the simplicity and classic beauty of antique blue Mason jar arrangements, and it wasn’t just because they were “pretty.” To top it off, they were the most amazing backdrop for yellow flowers. (See what I saying about the wedding gods?) The only thing holding me back from proclaiming full-on victory was cost. After some research, I found that those antiques were a bit pricey. That’s when I found a DIY tutorial from Bridal Buzz.

I must admit that when it comes to crafting, I am pretty confident about my abilities. I don’t claim to be “artsy,” but I’ve always counted myself as “crafty.” Besides, every sorority girl worth her weight should know her way around a Hobby Lobby. (Hello T-shirts, hand-painted frames, and personalized anything-that-will-stay-still-long-enough-to-be-puffy-painted/embroidered/Sharpie’d…you get my point.) Anyway, Bridal Buzz’s Mason jars stained blue to appear like the antique blue Ball jars seemed like a great way to save a couple bucks.

I got some gals together and, after several stops, we had a case of Mason jars, Vitrea 160 glass paint in turquoise, and Vitrea thinner, and I was ready to go. When doing a web search for using Vitrea glass paint, I had seen several different comments about the best application methods. Some said using brushes and others said wiping on gave the best results.

Personal Photos

I put on some plastic gloves (blue jars? cute; blue fingers? notsomuch) and mixed the paint (three parts thinner to one part paint).

I began by applying my paint mix with a paper towel. (Too streaky!) I tried an old T-shirt. (The shirt absorbed too much paint and was still too streaky!) I tried cheesecloth. (You guessed it—too streaky.) I even tried a two-coat combination. I wiped on in small sections. I wiped the whole glass at once. Nothing worked. The only method that appeared to be streak free was rolling the glass in the paint/thinner combination, but it resulted in completely opaque color, which was obviously not the look I was going for. Although I never tried with a fan brush, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been pleased with the results.

Personal Photo / From left to right: authentic blue Ball jar, double coat, paper-towel application, cheesecloth application

I broke down and ordered the real thing from eBay (sigh). My first DIY = failure. Perhaps I had unreal expectations of what the end result would be, or maybe my perfectionism reared its ugly head. Whatever the reason, I knew that I wasn’t going to be satisfied with the results of this project. To save myself some frustration, I threw in the towel (and cheesecloth).