Do-It-Yourself: Chapter Two

Yesterday, I showed you the faux mercury glass I made for Eldest’s room makeover. I admit I went a little overboard, but like I said, I had other stuff to do, so it was best to get it out of my system so I could move on to the other accoutrements. Doing these went a lot faster, but a couple required curing time.

Which is just as well, since Eldest STILL hasn’t finished her room.

*Grumble, grumble*

First up, I have to let you in on the secret of my success:

This stuff glues glass!! AWESOME!!!

It glues fingers too, so be careful. E-6000 is my go-to glue for the stuff I never want to move again. Anyway, while at my neighbor’s estate sale, I noticed they had a small bell jar for $1. Hey, the Victorians were notorious for having specimens in those, right? So, I did the next best thing, because there was no way I was trapping a bunch of insects.

I simply punched out butterflies out of different colored cardstock, embossed them randomly, hotglued a small stick to the bell jar base, and then hotglued the butterflies onto the stick. DONE!! And no butterflies were harmed in the making of this bell jar display.

I also acquired a round silverplate serving dish for $3. Admittedly, I was actually going to use it for serving, but then I got a better idea. Monogramming became popular in large Victorian families, for obvious reasons. It was popular with my youngest sister too, until she remembered that all of us had the same initials. Eldest had a small block letter laying around the floor in her room, so I decided to put it to good use.

For the monogram sign, I painted the letter black, then adhered it to the dish with the E-6000. After curing for about 24 hours, I adhered the ribbon with more E-6000, reinforcing with duct tape. It looks so nice with the patina, which is great because that meant I didn’t have to polish it.

One thing I didn’t purchase was a gorgeous hurricane candle holder. It was way out of my price range, and I just couldn’t justify it. But it did give me an idea to make my own itty bitty little hurricane!!

I bought a round votive holder and a small candlestick at Dollar Tree™, and used E-6000 to glue them together. After curing for a couple of days, you have either a small hurricane to show off small pretties, or a wine glass, which is why I adhered the rose to the glass. No chance of using it for imbibing.

Total cost of these: less than $10, including the random stuff I had around and the E-6000. One tube of that will take you far, trust me.

And so will the fumes, so use it in a well ventilated area 😉