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Paint Mason Jars with Vitrea 160 Glass Paint

Paint Mason Jars with Vitrea 160 Glass Paint

ByAmy Fedele Posted on Updated on DIY Projects, Garden, Garden DIY

After creating painted mason jar lights out of solar path lights, I decided to paint my mason jars with colored glass paint to really add some whimsy to them. Read on to see how I used this awesome product by Peveo called Vitrea 160 Glass Paint.

These painted mason jar lights are solar powered, cheap, indestructible, fade-proof, dishwasher safe and an amazingly colorful way to light up a pathway or dark corner of your garden. Let’s learn how to make them!

Paint Mason Jars at night with solar lights

Paint Mason Jars: Peveo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint

I used Peveo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint. It’s a water based paint that makes the glass translucent and looks like watercolor paint. Baking it makes the color set and brings out a bit more depth to it.  The great thing about this paint set is that you can mix your own colors — mix the red and yellow to make an orange, or turquoise and red to make a purple. I love, love, love the WHITE. It’s soooo cool.

Paint Mason Jars with Glass Paint - Mix Your Color with Paint Thinner
Mix your color with Peveo Vitrea 160 paint thinner to get the translucent effect your want

Another great feature of the Peveo Vitrea 160 glass paint is the paint thinner. When you paint mason jars, this thinner lets you actually add more to make the paint more translucent if you’d like. Add only a little bit to keep the paint really really vibrant. So your colors can be very vibrant or more clear and watery depending on your preference. There’s a lot of flexibility to it.

Special bonus tip:

Since I’ve posted this tutorial about the glass paint they’ve come out with an awesome new product: Stained glass spray paint. I’ve personally tried it and within a few seconds you can get an amazing look! Try the orange! I think the Peveo glass paint is really fun too… and you can make all sorts of patterns and designs. But… if you are looking for an easier way and a solid color this will do the trick!

Paint Mason Jars

Paint Mason Jars with Glass Paint - Baking in oven at 325 degrees
Put the mason jars face down on a baking sheet covered in wax paper and used a paint brush to brush the paint on the outside of the jar.

After mixing the paint, I put the mason jars face down on a baking sheet covered in wax paper and used a paint brush to brush the paint on the outside of the jar.  After baking and setting the paint there is a bit of streaking from the brush strokes. I don’t think there is a way to avoid this when you paint mason jars with this product… I honestly don’t mind it (you can check out the photo at the bottom of the post to see it).  If you are worried about this or are a perfectionist and do not want the streaks and don’t plan to drink out of the glasses, I’d recommend applying the paint to the inside of the jars and swishing it around with the thinner so that you don’t get the brush strokes. After you are satisfied with the coverage you can bake them just the same and it will set up just the same.

Setting the Paint by Baking in the Oven

Paint Mason Jars with Glass Paint - Bake in Oven at 325 degrees
Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes to set the paint.

After you paint mason jars, bake them at 325 degrees F for 40 minutes. Unlike a lot of other techniques out there, I painted the OUTSIDE of the jars. This allows you to actually drink out of the jars (or wine glasses or drinking glasses). Again, if you are going to mind the streaks, swish the paint on the inside, but then you can’t drink out of these (see my instructions above). This paint is also dishwasher safe. I’ve had the mason jars outside for 2 months how with the solar lighting in them and they have not faded in the sun or weather at all.

The end result:

Paint Mason Jars with Glass Paint - Finished in Green
Painted mason jar lights during the day.
Paint Mason Jars at night with solar lights
Painted mason jar lights at night. Check out the white one!

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Solar Mason Jar Lights

Solar Mason Jar Lights

ByAmy Fedele Posted on Updated on Garden, Garden DIY

Here’s a quick tutorial for making beautiful solar mason jar lights out of the cheap ($1) plastic solar path lights.

The solar mason jar light project is really simple:

  • Purchase cheap $1 plastic solar path lights. I found mine at Walmart (Westinghouse brand)
  • Drill a hole in the mason jar lid
  • Take the solar path lights apart (we will just use the solar cell, cap and bulb)
  • Customize the jar, lid and cap pieces
  • Assemble the pieces of the solar path light into the mason jar

Materials for Solar Mason Jar Light Project

solar mason jar light
Find cheap solar path lights like these to take apart.

This is one of the easiest projects ever for such a great impact! Let’s get to it!

1: Drill a Hole in the Center of the Mason Jar Lid

drill hole in lid solar mason jar light

I used a 5/16″ drill bit for the Westinghouse brand solar lights. The opening needs to be large enough to fit the solar light into the jar lid without the whole solar cell falling through the top.

drill hole in top solar mason jar light

Take your time and be careful not to push too hard and break the glass. If you purchase the Westinghouse solar path lights, the 5/16″ bit will give you the perfect size to fit the LED light inside the jar. If you think you want the hole a little bit bigger or smaller, here is a handy chart for drill bit hole diameters.

2:  Disassemble the Solar Path Light

solar mason jar light
take path light apart solar mason jar light

The next step is to take the solar path light apart.  Just pull the top off the plastic. We only need the top black plastic piece (circled in red above) to make our solar mason jar lights. Make sure you pull the tab next to the LED light to activate your solar light.

3: Insert the light into the mason jar lid

insert light solar mason jar light

You’ll want to now carefully insert the light into your mason jar lid. If your drilled hole is not perfect, now is the time to add a dab of glue along the mason jar lid. Be sure not to get any onto the light or near the actual hole.

4: Twist the light until it’s all the way onto the mason jar lid

add glue solar mason jar light

It may be a tight fit, so slowly and carefully twist the black plastic until it is snugly up against the lid of the mason jar.

5: Customize Your Solar Mason Jar Lights

solar mason jar light

Here you can see the solar mason jar light at night. In the background you can see one of the dollar path lights. Look at how much brighter my solar mason jar light is. And the quilted mason jar really gives off some cool patterns. You can enjoy these as-is and you’re totally done.

You can also continue to customize your solar mason jar path lights. I stained the mason jars to add color. Then I painted the jar lids to match the plastic solar cell and added a wire and hang the mason jars so I can hang them from an outdoor “chandelier”.

Paint Mason Jars at night with solar lights
Here are my mason jar solar path lights after I stained them with glass paint. I can also hang them from a chandelier.

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Mason Jar Paint Storage (with printable label template!)

Mason Jar Paint Storage (with printable label template!)

ByAmy Fedele Posted on Updated on DIY Projects

Over the weekend I spent quite a bit of time organizing all of my leftover house paint. I’m sure we all have the ugly corner of our basement or garage, filled with gallon paint cans holding less than a pint of paint… right? Well, after some digging on the internet I found some great paint storage solutions, and I’m going to show you how I used mason jars to store my paint more efficiently and beautifully. Read More “Mason Jar Paint Storage (with printable label template!)”