I have been out of the creative groove, dealing with some life stuff, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to be sharing with you again! Punctuating the blog break is a super cheap, easy sea glass hanging votive holder tutorial. Why do you care? I will give you three reasons. First, they are awesome… duh. Second, they are a full blown dollar store craft, yay! Finally, I knocked them off from Pottery Barn’s Sea Glass Hanging Votives for a fraction of their cost. Mine… $3 plus stuff I had on hand. Theirs… $60 and no bragging rights. You can put that $57 you saved towards a backyard soiree, complete with stylish ambiance handmade by you!

Supplies:

Grab glass holders like these. I got them at Dollar Tree.

Martha Stewart Glass Paint Frost:in sea glass colors (blues, aquas, white)

Rubbing Alcohol

Vinyl or latex gloves

Lint Free Towel

Cosmetics sponges

Votives

Jar Wire Hangers (I got mine at Joann’s, but here are some on Amazon)

*If your containers are spherical without a neck like one of mine pictured, you will need to drill holes in the glass, which I showed you here: How to Drill Holes in Glass

*In this case, or if your glass holders are too large for the wire hangers you can purchase, or if you want to save $, you will need to make your own wire hangers (I cover that below). For that you will need:

Pliers

Wire Cutters or Metal Snips if your hanger is to hard to cut with wire cutters

Wire clothes hanger or craft wire 16 gauge

Instructions:

PAINTING THE GLASS

Clean the surface of the glass with rubbing alcohol and a lint free towel or paper towel. Make sure to wear gloves. You want to get rid of fingerprints and refrain from touching the glass with your bear hands after cleaning it. The glass paint needs a clean, oil free surface for maximum adherence.

For this lantern, I mixed frosty white and glossy aqua. Apply several thin layers with a soft brush or cosmetic sponge, allowing 30 minutes of dry time between layers. I did two coats with the above mixture, then I used frosty “Surf” on the bottom third for layer three. I went over the entire piece with frosty white to blend and create the ombre effect.

*With glass paint, the key is patience and faith. It will look like crap until it dries…

I told you. Here I used a soft brush, then remembered why I prefer cosmetic sponges with glass paint. I switched to the sponge for the rest of the layers. It looks awful regardless of what you use, until it dries and evens.

*For more tips and details on glass paint technique:

 Recycled Wine Bottle Address Lantern DIY

Once you have painted your glass holders, let them dry overnight before moving on to the next step:

ADDING THE WIRE HANGER

For all of my hanging votive holders except for the spherical one and the white one, I used these purchased wire jar hangers. They are super handy and I had them in my stash.

As I said in the supplies section, you can make your own version to save cash, if your holder is too big for the mason jar version, or if you have a container with no “lip” to rest on the wire.

This holder was to large in diameter for the mason jar sized wire hanger. To start, I cut the top off the hanger with metal snips. You can use craft wire and wire cutters just as well. The hanger wire was super hard and difficult to cut and shape, but I couldn’t resist the repurpose. Next time I will go with a thicker gauge craft wire.

Begin at one of the two “V” angles.

Form a loop by pulling the right wire under the left wire as pictured.

Bend the left wire just under the loop, and pull the under and back over it above the bend you made (see photo).

Use your glass to shape the wire. When you get to the side opposite your loop, trim the tails of your wire leaving 1.5 inches extra on one tail and about 0.5 inches on the other.

In retrospect, I should have made the wire for this before painting it, as I nicked it in a couple of places. Don’t make my same mistake. It’s easily avoidable.

One the longer tail, bend the wire and wrap the end around a pen or dowel to create a loop as shown.

Bend the other tail so that it sticks up, perpendicular to the wire as shown.

This diagram may help. The perpendicular tail you just made slides over the wire just under the loop from the previous step to secure the hanger around the neck of the container.

Make a handle with a piece of wire by forming a “U” shape with a loop at each end. Leave the handle loops open enough to slide into the neck piece loops.


Assemble as pictured and hang!

I love them! These are perfect for wedding receptions and festivities of all kinds. Best of all, they are charming and cheap.

This is the Pottery Barn version. I went a little frostier because I like that look. You could use transparent gloss to achieve the look of the blue PB version pictured.

You may want to check out our 50+ DIY Lanterns for more fun lighting ideas: