The other day I saw this large stack of glass bottles on one of my kitchen shelves.

Once upon a time, they contained salsa. Over the years we’ve obviously used a few (and continue to do so) and so now I have a collection. I normally don’t throw glass bottles, because (1) I believe in recycle-reuse-reduce (2) Glass is much better for storage than plastics (3) I particularly love the shape of these bottles. They are flat and squat and stack up nicely, one on top of the other, in the fridge or on shelves.

I had some time that day, and the urge to work with my hands. So I started looking up glass bottle decoration online. 

There were so many pretty and innovative ideas to try. But with most of them I either didn’t have all of the material, or that much time. I wanted to do something super quick and super easy with whatever I could find at home. I finished these jars in one morning… about 3 hours. So seriously, if you are inclined toward DIY at all, try this out. It’s really, really easy!

Glass Bottle Decoration in Steps:

(1) Clean The Bottles 

I usually remove the sticker from the bottle anyway when it gets empty, so that part was already taken care of. I just scrubbed them clean again, making sure there were no remaining pieces of paper or bits of glue or anything else left on the surface.

(2) Mark With Masking Tape

I wanted to paint a design in a 1 inch wide band right around the bottle, so I put strips of masking tape above and below that area to help me keep straight lines while painting.

(3) Try Your Design on Paper First

I put down some patterns that I liked on paper. Then I took a brush and went over it in paint to make sure that I had the right size brush and that I could paint the pattern easily.

(4) Put Measurements on the Masking Tape

If your pattern requires you to divide the circumference into equal parts then that is easily done with the masking tape too. (For example the semi-circles in the pic above. I wanted all the semi circles to be of the same size. So I put little dots on the masking tape to mark the start and end points of each) You can measure out the length, divide it equally and put pencil markings on the masking tape to guide you as you paint.

(5) Start Painting!

I used standard acrylic / fabric paint available at all stationery stores. If you are fond of craft and painting, or have kids who paint, you will probably have some lying at home. I marked out the outer semi circles first to get them in equal size…

… and then started filling them in.

To keep the glass bottle decoration really simple, I used only one colour… black.

I tried another pattern on the second jar. (You can see the pencil markings on the masking tape here at the ends of the central diagonal line.)

And that’s the final one. (I had made dots between the zig zag lines on paper, but while painting the glass bottle I thought that the baby triangles might look better)

You can come up with designs that are far more intricate if you’re a skilled painter. Or much much simpler, if painting isn’t really your thing. Don’t worry too much about it though. See the pics. All my lines aren’t perfectly straight, or even. But that’s what gives it the hand-made touch!

(6) Remove the Masking Tape

Allow the paint to dry off.

Then gently remove the masking tape. By the time I finished painting bottle 3, bottle 1 had dried. So I removed the tape from it and started working on it. As I worked from one bottle to the next, they kept drying in turn, so I didn’t really have to ‘wait’ for any of it to dry.

After removing the masking tape I thought the bottle looked pretty cool as it is. So we just needed a little something to finish it off.

(7) Stick the Twine

I painted a layer of Mod Podge on the glass bottle, where I wanted to stick the twine and wound the twine around on it. (You should be able to find Mod Podge at your local craft store. Else you can get it here)

I then painted another layer of Mod Podge on top of the twine to make sure it doesn’t slip off.

Repeat the same for all 3 jars, and you’re done!

(8) Finish With a Layer of Varnish

The acrylic paint can easily get scratched off, so put a layer of varnish on it to protect it. I also put the varnish on the twine to seal it properly. I still won’t scrub hard to clean these bottles, but a little bit of water won’t spoil the glass bottle decoration.

The pretty glass jars are ready!

(9) Use Them in SO Many Different Ways…

Here are just a few ways of them.

Pen stands on your table

In your bathroom, to store cotton balls, ear buds, etc.

To put plants on your shelves

To beautify a corner with tea-lights. See the pretty patterns it throws on the wall.

Or to keep chocolates, dry fruits and mukhwas, ready to welcome your guests.

I’m sure you’ll come up with more uses too! Let me know how you used your jars in the comments below.

As for me. I still have more glass bottles left, and I really enjoyed working on these. So I think you’ll get a few more glass bottle decoration posts from me in the time to come. (I’ll stock up on more craft material so that I can try new stuff too!)

Until then, watch this little video and try this out yourself!

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