Get organized! See our favorites in the shop

Remodelaholic

DIY tutorials, Woodworking plans and more.

FREE BONUS: Kitchen Organization Boot Camp
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About US
    • Contributors
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • Disclosure and Advertising
    • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Project Ideas
    • Our Houses
      • Birch House (current projects)
      • Canyon House
      • Park House
      • Downing House
      • Logan House
    • DIY Project Plans
    • All projects
    • Barn Door Baby Gate
    • Dutch Door
    • Framing A Wall Mounted TV
    • Indoor Playhouse
    • Beach Themed Living Room Design
    • Chicken Coop Building!
    • Computer Desk
    • Computer Desk Plans
    • Custom Newel Posts and Stair Remodel
    • Family Room Sneak Peek
    • Headboard Tutorial
    • Living Room Progress
    • Mood Boards
    • Scrabbled Family Names
    • Pets
  • Design By Room
    • Bathrooms
    • Landscape
    • Kids Bedrooms
    • Kitchen
    • Living Rooms
    • Laundry Rooms
    • Master Bedrooms
    • Mood Boards
    • Office
  • Holiday
    • Christmas
    • Halloween
    • Patriotic
    • Easter
    • Fall
    • Saint Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Spring
    • Valentines Day
    • Winter
  • Crafts
    • Printable
    • Art
    • Paper Crafts
    • Kids
    • Fabric Crafts
    • Decorate
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beef
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Chicken
    • Desserts
    • Dinner
    • Fruit
    • Healthy
    • Holiday
    • Lunch
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Seafood
    • Side Dishes
    • Soup
    • Vegetables
  • Videos

Turning Glass into Faux Mercury Glass Tutorial

Written by Cassity

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Turning Glass into Faux Mercury Glass Tutorial
By Anna @  Take the Side Street
 
Anna sent in this project to be featured ages ago and it has been on my to do list ever since!  I have a huge window that I bought (see this post) thinking it would be cool in my family room, and now I don’t love it.  So, I want to do this tutorial on it and put it on our back porch… I will add it to the list of projects I want to do when I have a few free hours- which means who knows when that will happen… but someday it will!
1 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 I am so very excited to share this tutorial, because I love the look of mercury glass (especially during the holiday season) but amassing a collection of it could get pretty expensive.
 
About a month ago I actually tried to recreate the look with regular metallic spray paint, but I wasn’t thrilled with the results (I’m picky!) so I was tickled when I stumbled upon Krylon’s Looking Glass spray paint.  (Do people still say they’re ‘tickled’? Because I was.)
2
 
 
 
Step 1: Gather some glass that would benefit from mercury-ization (to use a technical term).  The larger hurricane I got ages ago at Walmart or JoAnn or something for less than $10, and the two smaller ones were from a dollar store.

3 before  turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial

Step 2: Start spraying the Looking Glass paint onto the inside of the glass. I held the hurricanes in my hand so they were laying on their sides and applied the paint in quick bursts, then rotated the glass to get the next area. The key here is to be very light in your applications — this paint is thin and runny and doesn’t leave much room for gloppy errors. 
 
Let it rest for about a minute (it dries fast) and repeat. The instructions call for 5 applications with 1 minute drying time in between each.  After one coat, the glass will just have a bit of a reflective shimmer to it, but you will still be able to see through it.
4 step 2 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
And here below you can see the squeal-inducing magic happening. As the paint dries, it turns from the classic spray paint metallic look to the actual mirror-like finish. You can actually watch it happening, it dries so quickly.
5 step 3 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 Loooooooove it!  Here are the hurricanes after 5 or so coats:

6 step 4 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial

Now here comes to important/tricky-ish part (don’t worry it’s not really difficult, just pay attention):
 
Step 3: Start distressing. (you’ll want to read this section, I promise)
 
I remembered reading on the great blog Vintage Revivals how Mandi had achieved an Anthropologie-like finish on a mirror by using some sort of chemical or acid to eat away at some of the metal on the backside of the mirror… and that gave me an idea; I figured I didn’t need any harsh chemicals, since this was paint and not real metal on the back of the glass, so I made a mixture of 50% vinegar and 50% water and put it into a spray bottle. Acidic, right?  After letting the paint dry for 5-10 minutes, I sprayed the vinegar-water solution lightly into the inside of the hurricanes just to cover the surface with little beads:
 
7 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 I tried to get the vinegar only on the bottom half so my hand inside the hurricane didn’t accidentally rub off the finish on top while I was distressing the bottom. I did the top part of the hurricane after I was finished with the bottom.

I let the beads of vinegar-water sit for 20 seconds or so, depending on how long I had let the paint dry, and then it was time to begin!

For the purposes of this tutorial, I recreated the distressing process on a piece of glass from a small picture frame so I could take photos to illustrate how I achieved this specific finish:
  • I sprayed on the vinegar-water:8 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
  • I took a paper napkin, folded it up and dampened it with the vinegar-water solution. I wanted everything that came in contact with the finish to be soft (kind of like fine sandpaper instead of rough, get it?)
9 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 
  • I took the damp napkin and gently dabbed (up and down, not side to side) the beads of vinegar, and voila! The vinegar had started to eat away at the paint (this worked better if I only let the paint dry a few minutes rather than an hour or so… I had to rub a bit more on drier paint).
10 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 
  • Then I gently started to rub the damp napkin in circles to widen those distressed areas and start sloughing off more of the paint. I found that using the pads of my fingers when rubbing with the napkin, versus the tips of my fingers, helped lessen the pressure and the chance of giant flakes of paint coming loose:
 
11 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
  •  Use your judgment to achieve your ‘ideal’ look — I sprayed a bit more vinegar on and then rubbed very lightly because I wanted a scattering of very tiny holes too, not just the larger ones I had rubbed off:
12 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
 
  • I finished it off with one or two very light coats of the Looking Glass spray paint, to add a bit of dimension to the spots that had no paint — I still wanted them to glow, shimmer, look a tad mirror-y… pick your word!13 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial
Step 4: (Optional, but recommended) Apply some sort of protective coat, like a clear spray to the inside of your glass. (And remember, don’t put live plants or food into a container that you’ve sprayed)  Here’s the finished product:
 14 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial

15 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial  16a turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial  17 turning-glass-into-fake-mercury-glass-tutorial

 

 Update: Wondering if the Looking Glass spray paint is necessary? Check this post out…

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.

Published: June 7, 2011Filed Under: Decorate, Tutorials Tagged: Decorating, Lighting, Mirrors, Tutorials

About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.


free email bonus

Kitchen Organization Boot Camp

Is your kitchen a zen paradise? It can be. I'll show you how.

Previous Post
Commiserate with me….
Next Post
Budget Friendly Kitchen Remodel

Comments

  1. Hal says

    October 29, 2011 at 10:05 pm

    Thanks so much for your tute. I just bought the looking glass paint tonight using my 50 percent off coupon. I am so excited to use it. I have hurricane glass I want to make faux mercury glass, and I want to try to make a vintage mirror for a frame. It is in such a small can. How many things did you spay with it?
    Thanks again,
    Hal

    Reply
  2. Susan says

    July 24, 2012 at 10:31 am

    Just a quick question (loved your tutorial by the way) – I see that you have candles inside these vases, but would this be a fire hazard with the spray paint? Just wondering because I want to make tea light versions of this!

    Reply
  3. Angela says

    February 27, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    Excellent tutorial!!! I will definitely be trying this!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

    Blessing……Ang

    Reply
    • Justin says

      March 5, 2013 at 12:15 am

      Good Luck, I am sure it will be lovely!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you have followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you have seen here, we would love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.
Recipe Rating




Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

This blog is about DIY at its finest. We are obsessed with it and so are you, so while we're working and have nothing to show you of our own projects we show off yours. So submit your projects! More About Us…

Categories

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Meet The Team

Privacy Policy

Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.

© 2005-2016 Remodelaholic LLC, All Rights Reserved

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 · Remodelaholic

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter