Aging Glass Jars

I have been admiring all the pretty altered bottles I have seen on Pinterest and on Rosemary's blog at Villabarnes so I decided to try my hand at doing an experiment of my own.  I used plain jars that had been emptied and washed out so they were nice and clear.  I started out by spraying the inside and the outside of the jars with clear flat spray.  I used Valspar, but any matte or flat spray will work.  This dried very fast.  Next I took some gesso and mixed it with water, about 2/3 gesso to 1/3 water.  I took a sponge applicator and started smearing the jars with the gesso mixture just blotting very gently as I went along.  When this was dry, I resprayed with the clear flat. 

 If you follow my blog at all, you will know I have become somewhat addicted to the reverse mod podge method for transferring images.  The possibilities for this transfer method are endless.  It's an inexpensive method that gives a huge pay off.  My kind of project.  To see the tutorial for this transfer method click here.  I actually have to give the credit for this idea to Rosemary at Villabarnes because she is the one that wrote about doing the transfer method on glass.  I had no idea it would work on glass as well as wood.

This method of aging the glass will be blotchy.  I was going for a calcified look that old glass gets when it's been left out in the rain for years.  If you want a more uniform look, try Krylon's frosted glass spray.  It has good sticking qualities too.

 I do have some nicely shaped bottles, but first I wanted to try this method on something that was free.

 I love the results.  Some of the transfer rubbed off, but that just made the jars even older looking.

 For the Rose jar, I actually stenciled the word  rose on it.  After completing the transfer method, I resprayed with the clear spray just to seal everything in.

 Just to give it a finishing touch, I tied some pretty seam binding around the mouth of the jar and attached an old clip earring to finish it off. 
Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have found some inspiration to try your own beautiful projects.

I'll add a P.S. to this post.  I may be MIA for a few days.  I left my camera charger in Napa and I have ordered a new one.  A blogger without a camera is in sad shape so let's hope my new charger arrives before my battery dies.  Thank heaven for Ebay.

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