2015 #10 Bluebell Fairy jar {by Julie Ann Lee}

2015 Theme 10: Bottles

Hi everyone! Julie Ann from Magpieheaven very happy to be with you on the PaperArtsy blog this evening!

I'm sharing a post about up-cycling a mustard jar, an old glass saucer and a piece of crackle tile off-cut! I love the effect of painting on glass with Frescos, and these items that might have found their way into the recycling bin were calling to me to be given a magical new life as the Bluebell Fairy-House Jar. 

I had not tried combining rusting and the new PaperArtsy blues on glass before, so I was eager to see if I could create something whimsical with the sense of a story behind it out of these unwanted bits and bobs and a little PaperArtsy 'fairy dust'! 

Step One: I began with this tacky little pink saucer, which was headed either for the charity shop or the glass recycling bin! It had a thin layer of metallic paint over the centre, which was already flaking off. I removed this with some white spirit and a abrasive pad and then rinsed it. When it was clean and dry, I painted it carefully with PaperArtsy Blue Glass Fresco; allowed this to dry and then applied a thin coat of Ranger Glue N' Seal matte to that vaguely star-shaped area.

Step Two: Before the Glue N' Seal was dry, I sprinkled the upside down saucer with Rusting Powder and then spritzed with a spray of water containing a few drops of vinegar. I was careful to ensure that I kept that rusty sludge nice and moist!

Step 3: Now it was the turn of the mustard jar to be painted, Glue N' sealed and rusted and spritzed. Everything was looking incredibly grungy and messy!

Step 4: I grabbed my little off-cut tile, which happened to be the same size as the square sides of the mustard jar and sprayed it with washes of Smurf, Blue Oyster and Wisteria Frescos.

Step 5: The tile already had a crackle effect so the washes of colour ran into the little cracks. When I was satisfied with the effect of the washes, and it was dry, I stamped it with the key from LPC 031. It is difficult to convey in a photo, but the different shades of blue and the rust reacted just as I wanted, trickling into the cracks and the rough edges of the tile off-cut.

Step 6: Now it was time to combine the elements to create the Bluebell Fairy-House Jar! I painted the jar with a little Golden Heavy Gel Medium (although there is a gel medium for use specifically with small no-hole beads in it already) in places and adhered blue, green and amber glass beads, applying Treasure Gold in Sapphire, Green Amber and Florentine when everything was good and dry. Shrink Plastic houses from ELB 14 and 19  stamped in Black Archival dangle from hemp around the neck of the jar. I also stamped Lin's 'Home Sweet Home' sentiment from ELB19 onto the shrink plastic painted with a wash of Smurf in Wendy Vecchi Forget-me-not Archival.

Heavy Gel Medium bonded the tile really well to the glass, which amazed me! I'm beginning to think there's nothing this gel won't stick! I finished off my up-turned saucer lid with a smattering of some more glass beads and a painted resin flower.

I liked the effect of combining the Treasure Gold and Rust on the lid, as it looked a little like Titanium to me!

Now I have to decide what the jar will contain: maybe I could keep broken jewellery in it for future projects or create a miniature fairy occupant from papier mache? I hope this little jar fantasy has inspired you to create something from glass 'throwaway' items around the house. Frescos work so well on glass and I was really pleased with combining the rust, Treasure Gold and paint for an aged look. I can't wait to see what you come up with on this theme because there is something so magical about painting glass.

Julie Ann from http://magpieheaven.blogspot.co.uk/ wishing you a magical and creative week.

This is an absolute delight Julie Ann. You are so right, the golden gels are miraculous as adhesives, and because they are a fine art product (not PVA based), they will not get brittle or yellow with age, due to their UV resistance, so they are ideal for this kind of thing indeed!

I adore the colours, and the Rusting Powder works so well with the blues! It is amazing how it does its own thing , you just need to keep it damp until you like the effect. It's a very cool product! Thanks again for another brilliant make! ~Leandra

We would love you to join in with challenge #10: Bottles If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Bottles link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, June 7th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.