Glass Jar Lanterns

you will need
empty glass food jars
glass relief paint ( comes in a tube, i used pebeo cost £4)
either glass or porcelaine painting medium (again i used pebeo cost £4)
acrylic paint
oven
instructions for up cycle jars
.First give your jars a soak in some hot soapy water, scrub well inside, paying close attention to the lip where the lid was attached. .Peel off the labels and scrub the sticky glue residue off, you can use a metal scourers if you need to with extra washing up liquid.  .Leave to dry.
.Decide on your design, either draw your own or find an image, I’ve seen lots to download as a pdf on etsy, but I used my worn out sublime stitching embroidery transfers on lots of my lanterns including the skulls, devil, virgin Mary, Buddha, swallow and babushka dolls.
.Scale your design to fit well into your jar, either on the computer or like me, old style, on the local shop photocopier.
If you’re just starting out go for a design that’s not too fussy, on a jar that’s not too small.
.Tape your design to the inside of the jar using masking tape avoiding the seams on the jar as it could spoil the finish.
.Now you’re ready to trace over the design with glass relief paint, I used pebeo outliner for the black and pewter and marabu contour paste for the gold,
.Now start to trace over your design with the outliner, I find it easiest to start in the middle of the design and work outwards, as you can rectify any mistakes from outside without disturbing the rest of your work. If you make a mistake you can just wipe it off, and start again. When you are satisfied, leave to dry for at least 3-4 hours.
.Now you are ready to paint. if you don’t have any special glass paint or like me want to mix your own colours, use a glass or porcelain medium,( again I used pebeo,) and mix acrylic paint at a ratio of about 50/50.
.Start with your main colour, in a thinish coat, then leave to dry; you have to be patient in between coats if it’s still tacky you will get a streaky lumpy finish. Carry on like this with your other colours leaving it to dry in between coats and colours until you have finished. (The time will depend on how thickly you have applied your paint.)
.Leave to harden for 24 hours.
.Now you can fire your lantern. Put the jars into the oven while still COLD then turn the oven on to 150. Leave for half an hour, switch oven off, and leave jars to cool in the oven, after 40 mins to an hour you can take them out. The paint will now withstand a lot of weather, or wiping, as well as the jar itself being super sterilised.
.Finally add any embellishments you fancy, gold leaf, glitter, charms, beads yeah baby! alls thats left is to add and light a candle!
.Have fun!
.Save the planet!
.Make something from nothing!