I’ve been seeing Krylon’s Looking Glass spray paint on the blog-circuit (particularly the “DIY Mercury Glass”) for a while now and I’ve been dying to try it out! So off I went to three local craft stores, Sherwin William’s, Lowe’s, and Home Depot and everywhere I went, they were out or hadn’t heard of it. Therefore, I eneded up ordering it online from Hobby Lobby. It wasn’t the most economical option, but I was being rather impatient at the moment. A few days later, the spray paint came in the mail and I was off to work. About 24 hours later, this is what I ended up with…

Pretty cool, huh? I didn’t go by any particular DIY Mercury Glass tutorial (there are a lot of them out there!) but I ended up forming a concoction of methods to get the result I was looking for. Plus, I wasn’t necessarily looking for a “Mercury Glass look”, just something cool that would give me an excuse to try this paint out. To do this project yourself, here’s what you need: Krylon’s Looking Glass Spray Paint, spray bottle (filled with water), glossy black enamel paint, metallic glossy gold enamel paint, scrub sponge, paint brush, and a glass piece you want to paint (I picked up this particular piece at Ben Franklin Crafts for $3 bucks).

Start out by covering the outside of the glass with a few magazine pages and painters tape to prevent getting spray paint on the outside. This step is optional, but I did it just in case. If you end up getting a little on the glass, don’t worry. It scratches right off. Make sure your glass is super clean (especially on the inside). If you leave smudges, it will cause the “mirror” effect to be a little cloudy and not as reflective. Once the glass is sparkling clean, lightly spray the inside of the glass with water – just enough to form some good-sized water beads.

Note: Rather than doing it outside in the rain, I decided to do this project in the laundry room. I don’t recommend it, though! Even with an open window, it got realllly smelly in there. And there may or may not be some reflective paint on the wall to the right of the washer. Whoops!

Right after you spray the water, lightly coat the inside of the glass with the Looking Glass spray paint. Since you’re probably going to be spraying inside a relatively small surface, it’s hard to do even sprays. Just try to keep things as even as possible. Like any spray paint project, it’s best to do a lot of very fine coats than a few thick coats. After each coat, quickly turn the glass upside down to dry. When you turn it upside down, the paint will run but that’s okay! That’s a part of what gives the finished project an aged glass look.

Make sure you put the glass (upside down) on a drying rack so air can get in there to dry both the paint and the water. If you don’t have a drying rack on hand, balance it on two upside down paper bowls. That’s what I did and it worked out really well and I didn’t have to worry about getting paint on anything (else).

About 4 coats later, here’s what the glass looked like…

It almost looks cool enough just like that, doesn’t it? I thought so, but I wanted to go for a more aged look. After the glass is completely dry, it’s time for a little bit of enamel paint. This step was a tad intimidating before I got started, but it ended up being really easy and fun. Start out by using the scrubbing sponge to scratch away some of the Looking Glass spray paint here and there. There’s no science to this, so just do what you think looks good. Here’s what it looked like in the beginning stages…

After you rough up the inside, apply thin layers of the black and gold enamel paint using your paint brush. I ended up mixing the gold and black paint here and there to make it look a little more blended and less choppy.

Rather than thinking about how it was looking compared to “real” mercury glass, I just focused on making it look cool. As a side note, if you’re planning on using your piece as a candle holder, remember not to go to heavy on the enamel paint. You still want the candle light to shine though. Like I said before, this isn’t a science, so just do what you think looks good. It’s kind of like applying makeup: you have to know when to stop. Too much scratching/painting will take away the mirrored aspect. So just be sure to not overdo it.

If you get to a point where you aren’t sure if you should keep going or not, go ahead and put it down for a few minutes (or even a few hours) and come back to it later. With this project, it’s totally okay if you let it dry and come back to it later. There’s really no right or wrong way to do it!

A scratch here, a scratch there, a dab of paint here, a dab of paint there, and, once again, here’s what the final product looks like…

The candle gives it a really cool glowing effect at night…

The total price tag for this DIY project was around $20 (the spray paint was a little more expensive because I had to order it). Not bad for a one-of-a-kind accessory! It looks just like something you would buy at a home decor store. However, I secretly love it when I can say, “I made that!”. Well, sort of… I don’t know how to blow glass… yet. ; )