DIY: Tinted Glass Jars

This weekend I started working on my giant mess of a bonus room which will eventually play home to my home office. It's been four years since I started the project, not holding my breath that it is going to be finished any time soon. Despite the ridiculous time frame, it's starting to take shape and I've started to gather (and use) things to get the place organized on a very tiny budget.

I'm a big fan of using jars for all sorts of things: vases, pen holders, a place for my paint brushes, beads. If it'll fit in a jar, then I'm all for it. The problem though is that it can all look a bit boring and buying fancy jars can get a bit expensive. So, after looking around Pinterest and Craft Gawker for some alternatives, I came across a tutorial for making your own tinted glass jars.

The process turned out to be relatively simple and the results, brilliant. Just remember, once you do this process with your jars, they will no longer be subtle for use with food or drink. They will strictly be for decoration.

The goods:

• Mod Podge
• Food Coloring
• Glass Jar
• Parchment or wax paper
• Cookie sheet
• Foam brush
• Paper bag
• Plastic Container

Pre-heat the oven to Warm or approximately 200 degrees.

Pre-mix the Mod Podge with the food coloring in a plastic container. You can also mix the Mod Podge and food coloring in the jar. I sadly don't have a measurement on how much Mod Podge or food coloring you'll need. It all depends on the size of the jar and how intense you want the color. For half pint jars, I used about 3 tablespoons of Mod Podge. The yellow jar was 4 drops of food coloring and the green jar was 4 drops of blue and 3 drops of green food coloring. 

Pour the mixture in the jar, coating all sides by slowly (and carefully) turning the jar. Because the jars I used were textured, I used the foam brush to help fill in some of the spots I missed by turning the mixture in the jar. Be sure to pour out any extra into the plastic container.

Turn the jars upside down onto the paper bag and dry for 10-15 minutes.

Then place in a warm over this way for 15 minutes before carefully turning over and allowing to "bake" for an additional 30-45 minutes. 

When they are done, they should look clear. If there are any streaks, stick them back in the oven and allow them to dry for a bit longer.

I absolutely love the way my jars turned out. I do think the next time around though I may dilute the food coloring a bit with some water before adding it to the Mod Podge for a soft colored jar.