I loooove the concrete pottery trend. I dig the industrial chic aspect of this particular style. The earthy tones of concrete pair beautifully with a pop of color or splash of bright green from your favorite house plant or flower arrangement. The downside to concrete pots are they can be quite heavy, making many of us hesitate to put these cuties on our delicate table surfaces. So of course...this got me thinking about my jars. Can I turn an old marinara jar into a chic, faux concrete vase? Something industrial chic, but light weight and sustainably made? Turns out, I CAN!
The basic ingredients for this projects are a jar, the common tub of spackle (you know...that stuff we use to fill in holes from one too many nails in the wall?), some colored paint and a few maintenance tools to fine tune your creation. Once I dug in, I realised this project sounded "big", but was actually going to be super easy. Hooray, I love easy!
What you'll need:
A jar - you pick the size. I chose a marinara jar because I wanted my project to be vase size.
White spray primer.
Wall spackle - depending on the size of your jar, you'll likely need about .5 - 1 cup.
Acrylic paint - any color, I chose grey in keeping with the concrete theme.
Disposable gloves.
Sand paper - 150 grit works best, but anything south of 150 will work just fine (the lower the grit number the courser the sand paper).
A mask or face covering for the sanding portion of this project.
Towel and such to create a "mess zone" for your project.
Step 1
Primer your jar using your spray primer. If you don't have spray primer on hand, just use what you do have on hand. No need to go shopping for this. Find some white paint and put a base coat on your jar and let this dry thoroughly.
Step 2
Put on some disposable gloves, and using your hands mix up your spackle till it's a bit pliable, and then begin to smooth it onto your jar. You can use your hands to create a smooth look, or go for a more unfinished look and layer the spackle on in chunky layers. Just play with it till you get the look you want. Work the spackle over the rim of your jar in a thick layer so you can smooth this out (IF you don't want your new concrete vase to look like an old jar).
Quick tip - if you are having a hard time manipulating your spackle, add a touch of tepid water and mix it into the sparkle till it can be moved around without crumbling into globs. Once you are satisfied with your sparkle layer, let your jar dry thoroughly. I let mine sit over night just to be on the safe side.
Step 3
Now that your spackle has thoroughly dried on your jar, put on your mask and gently sand any spots that are not to your liking and smooth out your rim. If you accidentally sand through to your glass, just dab on more spackle over any bare spots and let it dry. Repeat drying and sanding steps until you are satisfied.
Step 4
It's paint time!
There are options here:
You can add water to your acrylic paint and paint on a soft, muted tone in keeping with the concrete vibe. With this approach the spackle will show through, creating a really nice concrete look when dry.
You can use the diluted color technique above, and once your first layer of paint dries, dip a fresh paint brush into an earthy color and "flick" it toward your jar so small drops of paint splatter over your jar - this creates a sandy, grit look. NOTE: DO YOUR MESS PREP FIRST! You don't want to accidentally splatter your wall or table!
You can go big and bold and paint on a bright color. Paint it on using a dry brush for a rougher look, and use a wet paint brush for a smooth, more finished look.
You can do a mix of both, working in layers.
I'll be honest, I changed my technique 3 times before I found a look I was happy with! Ultimately I put on a base of watered down grey. THEN, I added a layer of non-diluted grey and used a rag to sort of wipe this second layer to create that unfinished concrete look. I liked these two layers, but it didn't look complete to me. SO......I dug around my garage to see what spray paint I had on hand and I lucked out! I found an old can of metallic silver. So, I added this as my third layer. I just dusted my vase with the metallic color so I would still have spots that are matte and concrete like. I LOVED this look. A bit of metallic against the "concrete" was the juxtaposition I was looking for!
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