Quick DIY to upcycle old glass vases

I have way too many vases. While my collection is large, I recently realised that they’re mostly glass vases and I’ve been wanting a few ceramic vases to add to my collection. Ceramics add texture and interest to displays and while there’s nothing wrong with glass, I just had too many of them.

Rather than go out and buy a ceramic vase, I decided to try a little experiment with a thrifted vase that I found for less than a pound. I liked the shape of the vessel but being a bargain basement type piece, the glass was thick and not very attractive. I’ve come across the baking soda and paint method before so I thought I’d try it with my vase and it totally worked.

So if you’ve got a few glass vases that could do with a fresh look, painting them is a great way to upgrade them.

Materials:
bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
acrylic paint

You simply add some baking soda to your acrylic paint and mix. Paint two coats, allowing the first coat to dry before painting the second.

The more baking soda you add, the thicker and more textured your paint will be. I didn’t add too much as I didn’t want too thick or too textured a finish. You can see how much I added in the video below.

I opted for black because I wanted a tall black vase since I don’t have any black vases. But also because I wanted to display my preserved beech stems and I thought the rich autumnal shade against the black would create a bold contrast.

While this paint technique works well for vases, it would work for any glass object that need a refresh, as long as you don’t eat or drink from it of course. I have a boring plain glass bowl that I’m thinking of painting next and maybe using as some sort of festive decoration.