Work in a well-ventilated area, like a garage with the outside door open or a room with 2–3 open windows. This will keep you from inhaling paint fumes.
A bottle-cleaning brush will reach into the bottle to remove food or grease residue. They are available online and in kitchen stores. If you are using a thin bottle that’s too narrow for the cleaning brush to fit into, you may need to soak the bottle in soapy water before rinsing it.
If you don’t live near a craft-supply store or a hobby shop, you can find a large variety of glass paints in online painting-supply stores. Each bottle usually costs around $5 USD. Make sure you’re using glass paint—a lot of other paints won’t stick to a glass surface.
The lightening medium is used to thin the paint and lighten its color. In a pinch, you could use acetone-based nail polish remover instead of lightening medium. However, acetone tends to mix poorly with glass paint and gives the finished product a streaky look.
This amount of dye should also work for a glass vase. If you’re planning to color, for example, a large serving tray, try doubling the amount of paint and lightening medium. Be aware that the glass paint will dry lighter than it appears at the start. Adjust the amount of lightening medium you include based on how light or dark you’d like the dyed glass to end up. For example, increase the amount of glass paint and decrease the lightening medium for a darker, richer color.
Painting both the interior and the exterior of the jar will make the color darker than if you only painted the interior. Painting the exterior also gives the dyed glass a bolder color and works well for purely decorative vases that won’t be handled very often. Dyeing the outside of the glass can make it slightly tacky to the touch. Dyeing external surfaces is recommended for glasses that don’t have to be used or washed too often. It’s also ideal if you’re planning on using the glass for food or drink.
If you’re planning to use the glass to serve food or to drink out of, only apply the paint mixture onto the underside or outside of a bottle or tray.
If your paint doesn’t seem to be distributing in an even coat, you have used too much acetone. Add more paint to the interior and mix again.
If you were to skip this step, accumulated paint would drip down into the bottom and dry as hardened pools of glass paint.
If the dyed glasses or mason jars become dirty, hand wash them using warm water and a gentle detergent. Don’t put the glass in your dishwasher, or the coloring may come off.
If you’re dyeing a vase, check its packaging to make sure it’s dishwasher safe. Also make sure that it’s oven-safe, since you’ll be setting the glass’s color in the oven.
Remember that the color will dry to a lighter tint than it first appears. So, make your colors darker than you’d like them to appear on the finished product, unless you want very light glass. You might choose holiday colors if you’re decorating your jars as holiday decor.
You can purchase Mod Podge at any craft-supply store or art shop.
If you are not dyeing a jar or glass but are working with a flat glass surface, simply lay it face up. You shouldn’t need to worry about paint dripping off.
Use a hot pad when handling the glasses so you don’t burn your hand. When you remove the glasses from the oven, set them on a coaster or stone section of your countertop so they don’t damage the counter. Since the dyed glass will not be waterproof, you won’t be able to wash the dyed glass at any point in the future. For this reason, it’s best to use the Mod Podge method on glass materials that are purely decorative.
