Little Pink Monsters

Craftbuster: Pinterest DIY Glo Jars

by on in craftbusters, tutorials

Have you seen this image floating around Pinterest? I know I immediately fell in love with the idea…

via Pinterest

Although there was no tutorial linked several people speculated that it was simply glow-in-the-dark paint splattered on the inside of the jars. Simple enough, right?

I picked up a some ball jars at the grocery store & a few bottles of glow craft paint, Sam & I went right to it…

I tried several different brushes & just couldn’t get the splattering down. I think if I had bought the half-size jars it might have been easier but with these big ones you can’t really get your hand in there with the brush to splatter the paint. So Sam & I just painted some & drizzled paint in the others. We set them outside to “charge” & later I hung them from our patio umbrella with some twine. Cute, right? And in theory should be pretty awesome when it gets dark out.

But not so much.

Minimal glow.

P overheard me complaining about how dim the glow was on my jars compared to the Pinterest picture & chimed in with a “They used a blacklight babe. We have one downstairs.” We do? I don’t even want to know why my husband has a secret blacklight. But regardless we turned it on & sure enough…

GLOW!!!

So I feel very confident that there is NO WAY that pic was taken with just a some sprinkles of glow-in-the-dark paint making the cool glowing light, it’s just a neat picture that was taken with a blacklight. On another note though I think I’m going to line our driveway with the jars on Halloween & use my new confiscated blacklight to make a neat entryway…

Do me a favor, keep your eyes out for crafts that you think might be a phony not quite be what they seem & send them to me, maybe we’ll keep “craftbusters” around…

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  3. Love this. Totally should start a craftbusters. I wonder if they dipped their fingers in the paint and flicked their fingers inside of the jar, like you flick water.

  4. I love the halloween idea….I think I might have to try this out 🙂 thanks for the suggestion!

  5. Bummer. I loved this photo! Would it work if you splattered the paint on the outside of the jar? (Obviously still needing the blacklight.)

  7. I had thought it was the liquid from inside glow sticks. Or was that a different image I saw? Wonder how that would work. And you wouldn’t need a blacklight on that.

  8. “CraftBusters!” I love it. MythBusters is one of my favorite shows. I think Jennie might be right–paint on the outside?

  9. I think that your picture would have come out more like the original if you put it on the ground under a white sheet to soften the light a bit.

    Jennie – That is probably a really smart idea!

  10. I saw awhile back that Lil Blue Boo did something similar, (http://www.lilblueboo.com/2011/07/glow-stick-lanterns.html) she used glow sticks and she didn’t mention anything about using a blacklight to take the picture. Glow in the dark paint and blacklight might be a better concept because the colors won’t fade like the glow sticks do so you could use it over and over versus having to keep your jar in the fridge and only display it for an hour or so.

  13. I saw this idea too and wondered if it would really work with just glow in the dark paint! I love the Halloween idea and the Craftbusters thing would be awesome!

  14. I think the took the glow n the dark necklaces, opened them up & put the stuff inside in the jars.

  15. Lame! I wanted to make those this week. Thanks for the review.

    I’m so on board for “Craftbusters!”

  16. It actually looks like they may have little black light leds in the bottom of the jars that they aren’t showing since the light is concentrated more at the jars themselves. that would make it a pretty cool item, IMO.

  17. Oh, also. I just saw that Krylon makes a glow in the dark spray paint. 🙂 Pair that with a black led light in the bottom and I think it would be awesome!

  18. Natasha – I think that picture was made with glowsticks. I did it with my daughter. If u cut open a bunch of glowsticks and then bang them on the inside of the mason jar it will create the splatter effect. 🙂 I found it u cut open both ends of the glowsticks it comes out easier. Ams they are in the dollar bin at michaels.

  19. Haha craftbusters is awesome! On one I saw on pinterest it said they cut open a glow stick?? Maybe that would work, I feel a craftbusters part 2 coming on haha

  21. I have seen these on Pinterest too….the ones I saw used glow sticks. Cut them open, poured them in and shake. I know you can get them at the dollar tree. Worth a buck to try I guess.

  23. What do you think about using an old toothbrush? I think it would allow you to get the splatter you want.

  25. Oh – we use old toothbrushes to make the splatter. You know, using your fingernail to brush it/create splatters. Fun job, isn’t it?

  26. I’ve also seens the idea of breaking those snap and glow sticks, and pouring the contents into a ball jar, and then shaking the jar up for a more ooze look.

  27. Oh good to know… I thought it was glow stick goo in there… so maybe that’s it? It’s likely just a cool shot with a black light!

  29. It’s probably not paint at all! They probably cut open a GLOW STICK or glow-in-the-dark necklace [you can get them at the dollar store.] and splattered the contents into the jar. I know if you fill a jar with water and then mix in the liquid of a glow stick… it glows like crazy! No black light necessary, though it does enhance the effect. Just make sure to put lids on cause i think its probably toxic for little trick-or-treaters.

  32. I tried the cutting the glowsticks project with my daughter and that didn’t even almost go like the other blogs said it would. Firstly the “liquid” from the glowsticks would not come out, so we tried tapping them inside the mason jars-that just made it splatter all over the room, we did a few other things too and while the liquid came out some, def not alot of it, and it didn’t look like all the pictures did. We finally resorted to cuttinf the glowsticks in small pieces for some jars and other jars we twisted different glow sticks in different ways and put them in the jar, just so she had something that “glowed”

  33. any chance someone can send me a request from Pinterest, I’ve been patiently waiting to get my request accepted by pinterest, but to no avail 🙁 can someone send me one pretty pretty Pah-leas..lol.. jksenzano@yahoo.com

    thanks, I really appreciate!

  34. To get a splatter with tiny little beads of paint like that you can use a toothbrush dipped in the paint, rub the back of the toothbrush with your fingers so that there’s no drips, and then use your thumb to flick the bristles (like every little kid does on the bathroom mirror). Not sure why it works better than a paintbrush, but it does.

  35. Love this idea, my kids will be soooo excited to do this. We have been doing a lot of the canvas wall art lately, so it will be good to change it up. LOVE your kids crafts ideas 🙂

  36. I feel like they could have put a paint brush with TONS of paint on it and stuck it inside the jar and shook the paintbrush back and forth and in circles around the rim so that it splattered inside the jar. All while making the lovely “clink clink” noise for children all around to hear and want to “help” with lol.
    Great Idea about using this on Halloween! I love your blog!

  37. Using a straw to get the splatter effect works. Put a dollop of paint on a plate, stick end of straw in paint and blow.

  38. They were made with broken glow sticks, not glow in the dark paint. Try that and lets see how it works!!

  39. Hello,
    I just noticed that I am getting your emails with all of your new posts but the website is not reflecting the new information – the latest post is from August 24. Luckily I get your updates and tutorials on my phone so I can still enjoy them.
    Just wanted to let you know 🙂
    Katie

  40. I don’t really have any super-genius thoughts, but I did want to say that I love the craft busters idea and that picture – it just looks so gorgeous and endlessly fascinating… maybe for your next craft busters episode you can try out the glowsticks idea! : )

  41. The spatter effect is done with a small spray bottle filled with the various glow paints. It is possible if you use the glow paints used for t shirt designs. Love the idea of craftbusters though!

  42. I did see a website that used the glow stick liquid…she bought some from, the dollar tree cut them up and poured it into the jar closed the lid tightly and just started shaking…while it did not look exactly like the pinterest pic it did look pretty close to it….yours look great as well.

  43. Oooo I’ve seen this with the glow in the dark paint and some with Glow Sticks and they are awesome!! I must do this with my niece and nephew! For a more splattered effect you could try an old tooth brush. water the paint down a little bit, scrub the bristles into the paint, then use your thumb to brush the bristles and point it toward where ever you want the paint to fly. A student in my old art class once used the technique to make snow on a painting, it was lovely 🙂 It may be possible to do this with the glow sticks but I’m not sure if they have anything toxic in them.

  45. Here’s a tip for splattering technique. Brushes are actually horrible for splattering paint I’ve found, but I’m wondering how the project would turn out if you used a tooth brush instead of a paint brush. You’re hands get messy by running your fingers over the bristles to get a splatter but by far my favorite way to get the best result 🙂

  46. Love this idea!! Wondering if you were to put the glow in the dark paint on a marble or something… and rolled it around in the jar.. if that would help get cover… what do you think?

  47. I just made the original jars pictured with glow in the dark paint and the end of paint brush to dab 100’s of little dots in pink and green. Turned out cute. They do glow better with black ligh 🙂

    • Did they work?? I’ve been wanting to try them again now that it’s summer & I could use them on the deck…

  49. This photo belongs to Lissy Elle on Flickr – might want to add that credit. She used glowsticks. I’ve done the same for a few of my photos. You just snap both ends off and splatter it inside the jar. But beware the broken glass.

    • Thanks Nicole! I’ll go back and do that, it wasn’t credited on Pinterest. Do you have a link to her Flickr?

  50. Hello Natasha.
    Thank you so much for this post. I tried this with my kids, what a disappointment. I have no intention of getting a black light, so no glow for us!
    I have written a post on our project and linked this post to it. Thanks again.

  51. I am absolutely in love with this! Thanks for sharing!!
    <3 Incredibly magical, even if it was achieved with a backlight! 😛 Beautiful nonetheless!
    Tammy

  52. Another easy way is to get some glow sticks at the dollar store. Carefully cut it open and shake it into the jar…works great with no backlight

  54. They probably took some thick glitter, water down glow in the dark paint mixed it together than put it in the jars.

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