2022 Topic 07: Specimen Jar {by Claire Snowdon} with Sara Naumann stamps

Hi everyone, it's Claire Snowdon with you today, and I'm here to share with you my upcycled specimen jar project.

I really loved the sound of this topic.....thoughts of specimen jars with insects and brains etc started to fill my mind!!  Although typically my creations steer well away from the more gruesome topics and veer mainly towards flowers and prettier subjects!  So with all that in mind I decided upcycling a plain jar would be perfect for this post....

The jar I found was this rather plain glass jar with a plain wooden lid.....

My original plan was to fill the jar with moss, a fake tea light and images stamped on tissue paper from a variety of Sara Naumann stamp plates - however once I started to stamp images onto tissue and attaching them to the jar to see how they would all fit together another idea started to form in my mind.  I decided it would look much better if the jar was frosted glass and the images stamped onto the outside of the jar.

 

 

So the real starting point for my project was two light coats of PaperArtsy Frosting Glaze on the outside of the whole jar.  The Frosting Glaze dries really quickly, I love how it makes the glass opaque but you can still see a hint of what's going on inside the jar.  Another important reason why I choose to go down this route is that it gave some 'tooth' to the outside of the glass jar - this would make the stamping and painting much easier.

 

 

I used StazOn black ink to stamp directly onto the jar - this was a bit tricky due to the curved nature of the jar I couldn't use a stamping block so just had to be decisive when adding the stamp onto the jar!  All the images I used are from Sara Naumann stamp set ESN55.

I added twine around the neck of my jar whilst I was waiting for the StazOn to dry.  Then went in with some colour - I choose to use PaperArtsy Frescos in Glass Blue, Beach Hut, Yellow Submarine and Pumpkin Soup.  I choose these colours as they are all translucents - therefore they wouldn't obscure my stamping and would also allow light to flow out of the jar.

 

 

Next I tackled the lid of the jar - it needed an injection of colour!!  I gave it two coats of PaperArtsy Fresco paint in Caribbean Sea - which is a nice opaque paint.  I stamped some shell images, again from the same stamp plate, onto the lid in a blue ink.  Then I added quotation stamping to the top and around the edges of the lid in black ink.  The edges were again a little tricky due to the curves however I just didn't hesitate and committed to rolling the lid along the length of the stamp and it worked out well!

 

Once everything was dry I could add the lid back on and then look to see if it needed anything else....

So the next steps were to add the moss inside and the tealight - which I found did not work well at all.  So I added a small string of battery operated lights inside - mixed in with the moss.  I found this worked much better.

 

I really love the effect of the lights shining inside against the images of the shells and the text on the outside of the jar.  I also love how the colours I added to the shells is translucent and delicate so the whole project has an understated feel - it really allows the stamps to take centre stage.

 

Here is a close up of one of the shells - nicely illuminated by the lights inside.

And a photo of how it looks inside during the daylight.....although I love the look of my jar in the daylight for me it comes alive in the dark!

I hope this project inspires you to look around your own home to see if there is anything you could upcycle!  Painting on glass is a wonderful technique and as long as you add the paint in light coats then it can create a lovely effect.

Make sure if you have a go to tag @paperartsy on your social media feeds so we can all see your beautiful creations too!

Claire Snowdon

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