I'm working on a project and I want an orange jar for it. So I look online and find some instructions, but I'm not happy with the results. ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden ) For the one on the left, I used regular white school glue and food coloring. I just poured it in and swirled it around and let the excess drip out. But it's too pale. And this is not permanent, it will wash right off with soap & water. The middle one, bought some paint made exclusively for glass. They didn't have the color I wanted, so I figured I'd get the closest I could find and add some yellow food color to make it orange. Nice color, but too deep/thick color. I want it to be "see-through". This is permanent paint... it was also baked on (30 minutes in a 350 degree oven) For the one on the right, I used the same paint mixture as the middle one, but used a foam brush to paint it on (also inside of the jar). The right color and clarity, but you can see the brush marks and bubbles. (Also baked on.) Anybody have any advice on how to make this work? Or have a favorite brand of glass paint (the stuff I bought was by Martha Stewart)? I'm thinking that maybe I should have gotten a yellow paint and then added the red food coloring to make it the shade of orange I want?
What will the jar be used for? If it's to hold fake flowers instead of dirt and a plant you could get some red fingernail polish. Pour on bottle at a time into the jar and swirl around to cover, you will need to add at least a couple more bottles of polish to finish it. I did some glass globes several years ago but being outside decorations the sun dried it out really bad and the paint pealed out. Mixing mediums like paint and food coloring probably will not work, the food coloring will just make the paint really thin before even starting to change the color. But adding red paint to yellow paint should work. Just remember when mixing colors, add dark to light....i.e. red to yellow....the other way around and you would have to buy an inordinately large amount of yellow paint to get the red to change to orange. And end up with way more paint than you could ever use....unless you have a side of a barn to paint.
Toni, won't be holding anything, but light A solar light to be exact. That's why I need it transparent. I picked up some yellow paint on the way home. Just don't seem to have orange. I don't think a couple of drops of food color will thin it too much. Actually I wish it would so the paint would spread easier. On the globes you painted, did you use a regular paint brush or foam?
Since you want them transparent, the food coloring might be the way to go. I didn't use a brush of any kind, I poured the polish into the globe and turned the globe itself to coat the inside. No brush strokes showing that way.
Yeah that seems the way to go, swirling. I did some more reading and may have found one of my problems was not letting it sit long enough before baking.
Yes Barb, sacrilege to you canners I know , but they have been sitting under the cabinet for decades. So they are my test jars. Don't want to screw up (pun intended) my "special" jar for this project.