How To: DIY Vintage Mercury Glass Christmas Ornaments

by Emily Rone Home

2 Materials

$30

1 Hour

Easy

A step-by-step tutorial on how to DIY mercury glass Christmas ornaments affordably, quickly & so easily!

DIY Vintage Mercury Glass Christmas Ornaments

This year, I decided to DIY these vintage mercury glass Christmas ornaments and they turned out so well! Cheap and easy is always my goal, and these ornaments fit the bill. I’ll share the exact supplies I used, as well as the step by step tutorial so you can make your own.

For a complete tutorial and direct supply list, you can visit EmilyRoneHome.com!

STEP 1: Start with Mirror Effect Spray

I had this Rustoleum Mirror Effect spray on hand already, and decided to give it a try to create a vintage, mercury glass appearance. It worked perfectly to give these clear shatterproof disc and round ornaments a mercury glass look.

The Mirror Effect spray serves as your base. I started with 2-3 sprays. Make sure the nozzle is pointed directly inside the neck of the ornament to avoid overspray and mess.

STEP 2: Add sprays of vinegar

Next, spray 2 squirts of white vinegar inside the ornament on top of the Mirror Effect spray. Swirl the spray paint and vinegar around to try and evenly coat the inside of the ornament.

Here is the Mirror Effect spray + white vinegar

STEP 3: Dry the ornament using a hair dryer

Use a hair dryer to speed up the process of drying the Mirror Effect spray paint. I tried to keep swirling and spinning the ornament while using the hair dryer around the outside of the plastic ornament. You can also blow air on the inside, which I did after drying around the outside. In my experience, the blow dryer quickly dried the paint, while leaving the vinegar as liquids still inside.

After the first round of paint dried

STEP 4: Repeat Steps 1 & 3

Repeat Step 1 with an additional 2-3 sprays of Mirror Effect paint. Think of this process as developing the mercury glass appearance in layers. Since I always had a bit of vinegar leftover inside after blow drying, I did not add more.

As you did in Step 3, use a hair dryer outside then inside to dry the spray paint again. Be mindful to swirl the ornament to get an even layer of Mirror Effect coverage. You may repeat this process as many times as you like until you get your desired look.

See how the bronze spray adds dimension?

STEP 6: Fill in blank spaces with metallic oil rubbed bronze spray

After you have good coverage from the Mirror Effect spray, finish each ornament off with metallic oil rubbed bronze spray paint. This helped to fill any blank spaces, give dimension and contributed to the “vintage” look of the DIY mercury glass.

I sprayed 2-3 sprays of the metallic paint inside, swirled, then dried one last time both outside and in. I placed the ornament with the opening face down on paper towels to drain any remaining vinegar and dry for about 30 minutes.

STEP 7: Spray paint the top caps

I also used the oil rubbed bronze spray paint to spray the tops to all of my ornaments. I liked the dark bronze look better than the original silver. I found it added contrast. I did this by setting all of the caps inside a cardboard box and giving them a thin and thorough coat of spray paint. Then again in another 1-2 hours.