Painted Vase: Fail and rescue

Today's story is that of a vase that just wanted to be painted, but in the end, the task was not that simple.

Seriously, this project lasted a month and a half for something that should have taken 5 minutes and then a couple of days to let dry.

I was inspired by the Jar-o-Lanterns from Martha Stewart I saw at Halloween. Just add some diluted paint to a mason jar, move it around, pour out excess and let dry. Easy peasy.

I wanted a glass vase that would bring some colour into our bedroom, and I thought I could apply this technique to make a one of a kind vase that would match. I like how, when painted from the inside, there is no painting flaw, and it's nice and glossy.

Here is the finished product, but let me tell you it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! You'll see...



I found the vase that would do the job at Dollarama.



Supplies:
~ vase, Dollarama, 2$
~ paint, DeSerres, 2$

Total: 4$

(Side note: this made me realize how tiny craft paint bottles are at the craft store compared to the Dollar Store ones! and double the price, too)

So the instructions were to mix in a bit of water with the paint to make a tad runnier so it would coat more easily. So that's what I did.



Tip: Less is more! lol Add a little at a time, test, add a little more, test. Mine was too runny, even though I thought I didn't add much. If you don't add water, then it will go on thick and take longer to dry out, but water is not essential.




I proceeded to coat the interior of the vase, pour out excess, and let dry overnight. Anybody see where this is going? Because never did I think this would happen:




Instead of drying, the paint just ran down the sides. The top portion was fine. It seems like bellow the part where the vase tapers, the air circulation is poor, or non existent, and it doesn't dry.

So I just thought, ok it'll eventually dry, I might have to recoat a fews times, but it'll stick eventually. So that's what I did.


(You can see above how it's suppose to look vs how it ran down)

I lost count of how many times I recoated the walls of the vase. Ugh. I started maybe a week before leaving for Christmas at my parents'. I would recoat sometimes twice a day. Still it wasn't done. I was planning on making a few to give as gifts, but since my test was still unfinished, I opted out of that one.

I gave up then, just left it there for the week we were gone. When we came back, the paint was still just was runny as before I left it!! But I was seeing that it was sticking some.

So I continued and persisted. Lying it on it's side to see if there would be better air flow this way. Tried drying it with a hairdryer. Almost at the end of January did I deem it finished and I could consider it rescued and done.



My bedroom is painted dark purple. Previous tenants had it like that and we didn't paint over, I like it. I'm trying to get teal accessories/decorations in, I love the purple/teal combo! Our furniture is white/pale, so it brings in some brightness.



So at first this failed, but through sheer persistence I managed to rescue it, and I like the final product. But this is warning for anyone who has the same idea, do not get a vase that tapers or has a narrow opening, it will not dry! There is still some wet paint at the bottom of my vase, I dunno if I'll ever be able to put something in it, unless I don't mind it getting some paint on it.

I really wanted to tried this again, but with a different vase shape, and I got an idea for a Valentine's vase, so stay tuned!

EDIT: I did an other vase with a bigger opening (Pink Valentine's Vase), and it dry perfectly. Some people were curious if it would hold up to water, so I put a bit of water in it overnight. It's bubbling the paint and lifting so do not put water in it!!!! Maybe if it were sprayed with a sealer after it could hold up to water though, just a thought.

Thanks for reading!



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