DIY Upcycled Bottle Vases using DecoArt Transparent Gloss Enamels and Glass Stain

We all have bottles in our recycling bin, and did you know that you can easily create vases out of them, perfect for giving a little bouquet of flowers to a friend, using some of the awesome glass paints and stains from DecoArt?

Materials:
three bottles - these really can be anything. I chose clear cooler bottles that were in the recycling bin
Glass Stains - Pink, Yellow, Iridescent Orange
Transparent Gloss Enamels - Turquoise, Red, Crystal
sponges
plastic palette knives

First, make sure that your bottles are clean and all of the labels have been removed. My bottles had a bit of the label residue left on them, and turned out just fine.

Using your Glass Stains, drip the paint onto your bottles. I chose to stain each of the bottles before applying the Transparent Gloss Enamels to give them more depth to the design. DecoArt has really amazing tools that you can use for application of the glass paints, and the sponges were perfect to ensure that I had an even coat of Glass Stain on my bottles.

To create an accent bottle, I simply apply all three of your chosen Glass Stain colors in a drip pattern from the mouth of the bottle so that it runs down the sides, similarly to candle wax down the side of a taper candle. When all three bottles are clustered together, they will coordinate without being matchy-match.

Here's the hard part. To ensure the best coverage and let the product be its amazing self, you need to wait 24hours between applications. Once dry, go in with a Transparent Gloss Enamel to accent the Glass Stain. I chose to use the transparent tones on just the neck and mouth of the bottle; red with yellow, and crystal with orange.

For my accent bottle, I used the DecoArt glass palette knives to add dimension and an abstract flair to the bottle.



Want to try the glass paints? Here's a rebate {good only for US residents}

Pop over to my Facebook page to see the finished project!

Americana Glass Paints are available at Michaels, JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, Pat Catan's Craft Centers, A.C. Moore, Beverly's, and other fine craft retailers. For more information on Americana Glass Paints visit http://www.decoart.com/glasspaint.

Disclaimer: I am a writer for the DecoArt Core Blogger Program and I was compensated for this post.