I’ve been seeing all these great craft tutorials on Pinterest that teach how to how to tint glass jars permanently. Did you know you can re-purpose and recycle empty glass jars? You can also use this method to turn those dollar store vases into expensive-looking tinted glass. There are slightly different methods to coloring glass so I’m going to share some I’ve found through Pinterest that screamed “try me!”. Start saving those glass jars or turn new clear canning jars into tinted ones.
Roundup of How to Tint Glass Jars Permanently
Method #1 From Fancy That Design House – Color Tinted Glass Jars
This method uses Mod Podge and food coloring. After you mix them together with some water you pour a small amount into the jar and move the jar around so the liquid completely covers the inside. To learn how to do it Click Here and here’s another tutorial using that method but with a different color samples: Click here to visit this tutorial at Momtastic Blog Tutorial. These are great looking, but I don’t think they’d be water resistant.
Did You Know? You can add liquid Rit Dye to Modge Podge instead of Food Coloring.
Method #2 From Mod Podge Rocks! – Faux Beach Glass Mason Jar Lanterns
This method uses Martha Stewart’s Glass Paints. The effect looks just like sea glass – gorgeous! Click here to visit this tutorial. The paint used in this tutorial can be cured, though it’s not shown. One of the we’ll share in a moment does.
Method #3 Liz Marie Blog – DIY Sea Glass Bottles
In this tutorial you learn how make sea glass colored jars using spray paint. Spray paint is generally more water resistant than a craft paint. Well worth trying!
Method #4 Tinted Glass Jars with Acrylic Paint
Unfortunately, the website for these jars is gone but I like the look of these a lot and decided to keep them for now. The method is pretty easy. Pour some acrylic craft paint into your jar. Rotate it until the inside is covered. Turn over your jar and let extra paint pour out. Let dry upside down until paint is dry. You can find labels to print out and glue onto your jar on Etsy.
Method #5 HGTV Handmade’s How to Tint Mason Jars
Wow the color possibilities! Watch the video to learn how. You’ll need glue (or Modge Podge) and food coloring which is similar to many other tutorials. However I like how it shows the difference in the concentration of the food coloring. With 20 drops, 40 drops, and 60 drops she’s able to create 3 pretty blue tinted glass jars with a variety of color depth.
Method #6 Something Turquoise – DIY Tinted Mason Jar Candles
Martha Stewart’s craft line is always coming out with new products, including some awesome paints. This tutorial uses Martha Stewart Glass Paint showing you how to how to tint glass permanently by curing the jars after the paint is dry you create permanent dyed glass jars. The difference with this one is no Modge Podge means the paint can more permanently adhere to the glass.
Photo by Something Turquoise
Conclusion
As you can see after looking at these great tutorials, there seems to popular methods of how to tint glass permanently. You can use Modge Podge and Food Dye, but it’s not water proof. You can use glass paint which is designed coloring glass. A great plus is being able to cure it. It will make your jars more water resistant. It’s not like an acrylic paint. Instead, it’s made to dry with a transparency and be resistant to coming off. And last, you can use a spray paint designed to be translucent when dry. Again, it’s more resistant because it’s permanent paint. I hope you have fun trying these out!
Love Grungy Primitive Jars? We have a tutorial for that: How to Make Primitive Grungy Jars
I found this very interesting and appears easy. will have to try!
Hi! I’d like to tint a glass bottle that is sealed closed. Can you offer any tips since I won’t be able to put the Modge Podge mixture inside the jar? Thanks!
Lisa, You could do it over the surface of the outside with either modge podge method or glass paint method. If you use modge podge, you’ll want to keep the bottle from water. If you use the glass paint you can cure it and make it water resistant. If I were going to color a bottle to use a vase or glass vase, I would color the outside instead of the inside of the bottle/vase.