A couple of months back I saw these beautiful glass lanterns with pretty mehendi designs on Pinterest. It was love at first sight and I knew I had to try and make these for myself. With Diwali approaching I realised I could put them to good use if I made them now. So I finally got down to this Diwali DIY this weekend and I’m most excited to be sharing it here with you.

This wasn’t the ‘perfect’ DIY, if you know what I mean. I usually start something and every step is more exciting and I can’t wait to reach the end. This one I almost gave up immediately. Step 1 itself didn’t turn out how I thought it would. But I’m going ahead of myself… let’s start at the beginning..

Diwali DIY Glass Lanterns:

So we’re back to these empty salsa jars. Remember the last DIY where we used these glass jars? And do you remember I promised to be back with more glass jar DIYs, coz I have so many of these. I’m always one to keep promises! 🙂

(1) What I Used:

This pic has pretty much everything I used..

• Empty, cleaned glass jars / bottles
• Glass colours
• Glass liner – I got these in silver, bronze and black, but ended up using only the bronze because well, that is so perfectly ‘Diwali’!
• I also used a paint brush to spread the glass colour on to the bottle surface

(2) Colour The Full Bottle:

I squeezed a large amount of glass colour on to the bottle and then spread it evenly with a brush. And this is where I almost gave up.

For those of you who have done glass painting before, you know the drill. You usually paint on a flat surface. You first outline the area you want to colour with the glass liner and then fill the colour in evenly into the demarcated area. The colour dries gradually in place.

On these bottle the paint didn’t stay in place because of the curved surface. It started dripping down both sides and drying as it dripped. So the surface developed dark blotches all over it, instead of an even coat of paint. Something like this.

I was totally disheartened. There’s no way I can get the paint on a curved surface to stay still in one place while it dries. (Or is there? If any of you have ideas of how I could have done it better, I’d love to know!) So after 3 to 4 coats of paint (1 was too light) I had 3 very colourful and very blotchy bottles.

I almost stopped right there. The only thing that kept me going was all the time I had already spent on it. I painted 1 coat on each bottle, waited about half an hour for it to dry, then the 2nd… and then the 3rd. That would have been too many hours wasted over nothing. So I thought I might as well put in a few more and see how it turns out. And I’m so glad I did!

(3) ‘Design’ It With The Glass Liner:

Use the glass liner tube like a mehendi cone and design it any way you want. I started with a simple line and dots..

.. and then got braver as I went along!

You can get lots of design ideas on Pinterest and Google. The main inspiration for these is mehendi designs.

I realised what you basically need is lines and dots in various combinations.

I’ve used a lot of curved lines here, but you if you’re starting out, you can use straight lines just as effectively. Like the design we used in our last glass jar decoration post.

(4) A Coat of Varnish For Protection:

Once your glass liner design has dried for about 24 hours, finish it with a coat of varnish to protect your design.

I tried different designs on all 3 jars.

(5) A Ribbon At The Neck:

The bottle neck was unpainted and had all those grooves to screw on the cap. I wanted to hide that, so I tied a bow with a gold ribbon around the neck of each bottle.

(6) You’re Ready!

That’s it! That’s how easy this Diwali DIY is. Your glass lanterns are ready.

Put some tealights in and you’ll have these colourful, jeweled lanterns shimmering away into the night.

I even found the perfect place for them in my home…

In my balcony, amongst all the greenery…

You can make them in all possible colours for a vibrant, boho look…

Or a couple of colours to go with your decor.

You have to see them shimmer at night!

Use Them For Gifting:

I realised that this Diwali DIY will also make really, REALLY pretty gifts.

You can fill them up with chocolates, put them in a tray and they’ll make a gorgeous Diwali gift set.

This tutorial has short video clips if you actually want to ‘see’ how I made them.

I hope you enjoyed this Diwali DIY as much as I did. I’m especially happy with it is because half way through I truly thought this wouldn’t work out… I surprised myself! 🙂

Can’t wait to use these lanterns this Diwali season. Hope you’ll make some for yourself too and wishing you a Diwali that’s as shimmering, sparkling and colourful as these lanterns!

Until next time,