Mercury Glass Pumpkins: Luxe Method {DIY Tutorial}

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Yes, that above, my dear friends, is THE mercury glass pumpkin that I created. Me. I know, I am on a roll. What can I say? I’m just really inspired lately to create and share projects with you all. Are you all enjoying them? Am I posting too much? Let me know!

On Tuesday, I posted a thrifty method for DIY-ing mercury glass, but I promised I’d come back with a tutorial on how to create the effect on glass (which is far more realistic, but a smidge more expensive…sorry!)

I hope this tutorial is easy to follow, but if any of my projects are ever unclear, feel free to leave me comment so I can clarify.

Ready?

Supplies:
–Glass pumpkin/vase/bowl you want to mercury glass-ify (I snagged my glass pumpkin from Goodwill for $4)
-Krylon’s Looking Glass Spray or the Rustoleum version (Both are on Amazon Prime!)
-A spray bottle with water
-A way to prop your item to dry

Here’s my glass pumpkin:

I made sure to thoroughly clean it and make sure there weren’t any smudges.

Got my Krylon looking glass paint ready + my water sprayer thingy. I then sprayed the inside of the pumpkin about 5-6 times and I swished (like my technical terms?) the water around so it coated all the inside of the pumpkin. If you got spray happy, like I did, give your pumpkin a quick, firm shake over a sink to get rid of the puddle on the bottom. Then, very, VERY lightly, coat the inside of the pumpkin with a light coat of the looking glass paint. Leave it upside for a moment so it has time to set and run down the sides.

And I also did the same to the lid:

After a few minutes (I’d say 3-4 minutes), prop your pumpkin/vessel so it can dry. I got creative and used 2 boxes on Pantene intense hair conditioner. Hey, it’s what I had on hand. You can see I propped the lid on the stem so it could also air dry. Let them be for about 30 minutes.

And again, spray the inside with water and do another LIGHT coat of the looking glass spray. Let it dry an hour or so if this is your last coat and you’re satisfied with the coverage. If you’re not, do another coat. I was happy with it after 2 coats for 2 reasons- one being I didn’t want it to be too opaque and the second being that this spray is hard to find and I want to preserve it. I’m honest, y’all.
Once it’s all dry, you can marvel at your creation. I have some actual mercury glass, and I took a picture of it so you can get an idea of the imperfect finish it has (which is what we’re aiming for!)

See how it’s not opaque and there are circles/streaks? That’s what you want, so don’t worry about doing this wrong. If it’s wrong, you don’t wanna be right. Embrace the imperfections!
And I wanted to embrace my gorgeous pumpkin! Ain’t she a beauty?! If you want to make that frosted glass striped candle holder in the background, here’s the tutorial.

This Krylon spray is like a miracle worker…it turns the ordinary into extraordinary. You can even see my reflection in this photo:

If you’d like to make the smaller pumpkins in the photo below, you can learn how to do that here.

Easy enough, right? I plan on making a couple of Christmas gifts using this method. I know of a couple of glass containers I have that would benefit from a little makeover. Again, the looking glass spray can ONLY be used on glass, but if you’re not too heavy handed with it, you could use it to make 5+ mercury glass containers, so that’d be about $2.50 each if you divide the cost of 1 can by 5 projects. Or make sure to print a coupon if you’re shopping at places like JoAnn’s, Michaels or Hobby Lobby.

Overall, this is WAY cheaper than paying $29 for the small mercury glass pumpkin over at Pottery Barn.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my tutorial.

Are you looking for more pumpkin ideas? I have plenty more over here.