DIY The Perfect Mercury Glass Vase In 3 Easy Steps!

**This post may have affiliate links, this means I may receive commissions if you choose to purchase through links I provide (at no extra cost to you). For more details, please see my Disclaimer**

In this post, I’m going to show you exactly how you can create a beautiful mercury glass vase in 3 easy steps.

So what is mercury glass, exactly? No doubt you’ve seen these beautiful silvered pieces in holiday decorations. They used mercury in the past to make shiny things like mirrors and these ornaments, but nowadays they typically use silver nitrate to get the same results.

The mercury glass look is easy to create with a little metallic spray paint and some vinegar!

If you’re a fan of the molten silvered look, you have likely salivated over some of the gorgeous and expensive pieces available in stores today. However, it is very easy to create the mercury glass look for much less money. While we won’t be using silver nitrate, a simple can of spray paint with some vinegar will get the look we’re after.

Ready? Let’s get started!

What You Will Need:

Mirror Effect or Shiny Metallic Spray Paint (I used Rustoleum’s Gold Metallic on Amazon).
A spray bottle filled with ⅓ vinegar to ⅔ water.
Paper towel.

I went with gold because I had some gold spray paint leftover from earlier projects, but you can honestly use any shiny metallic effect spray paint to recreate these results.

You’ll also want to arrange a good ventilated work area for working with that spray paint. I had some room in my garage, so I set up an area with a flattened cardboard box and got to work.

When making your mercury glass vase, you'll want to find a good ventilated spot for the spray paint!

You can also take this outside as well, but make sure it’s not too hot or cold for the spray paint to work. You can find this information on your spray paint bottle.

Prep The Glass

The first step is to clean your glass vase to remove any dirt particles. A good soak in some soapy water will do the trick.

My vase still had a sticker on the bottom, so I just let it soak in some hot soapy water for about five minutes‌ and it slid right off.

Dry your vase as well with a lint free cloth.

Spray It Down

After one coat of spray paint, spritz your vase with the vinegar solution, you'll start to see bubbling, that means its working!

Once you have your area set up, start with a light coat of gold or silver all over the vase. I painted the outside of my glass, but you can also coat the inside of the vase.

If you are concerned about an out-of-control spray, you can use painter’s tape to keep the glass you don’t want painted clean.

Then take your spray bottle and spray the vinegar solution all over. The paint will bubble and slide off the glass.

You can pat the bubbles away with a paper towel if you like and it will give you a nice “speckled look”.

Add Multiple Coats As You Like

I added two coats to my vase, but you can do more if you’d like. With each fresh coat, you’ll want to spritz that paint with more vinegar solution and continue to pat things down.

Once you have the look you’d like, allow the vase to air dry according to the spray paint instructions (usually about 24 hours to a full dry).

Final Thoughts

Once the spray paint is dry, you can either pop some flowers into your vase or turn it into a candle with a LED tea light!

Just 3 easy steps is all it takes to create your very own mercury glass style vase. You can also make candle holders and ornaments. All you need is clear glass, some spray paint and vinegar!

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you did, I’d love it if you gave it a share on your favorite social media platform and don’t forget to pin it to Pinterest to review later.