Moonbeams & Fireflies: Krylon Looking Glass paint

Monday, December 3, 2012

Faux la, la, la, la

Oscar Wilde said, "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

One thing I can't be accused of is decorating for Christmas the same way year after year. I don't always throw the baby out with the bath water, but I do change things up and add some unexpected delights to the vignettes I carry over from a previous year.

This year, I wanted a different centerpiece for the dining room table. I had picked up a clear glass globe at a thrift store for 99 cents last summer. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to photograph it before I started its transformation to a faux mercury glass tree.

The weather was so incredible this weekend that I set up shop outdoors and worked on my tree creation and a few other projects I'd had sitting around. 62 degrees in Nebraska in December isn't unheard of, but it's a bit uncommon.

In contrast to the high gloss of the mercury glass, I wanted the base of the tree to be rougher. I poked around the potting shed and found a terra cotta pot that was the perfect size. Cleaned it off with a wire brush and transformed it with a mixture of gesso and a paint sample with the name of "Marble Glass."

I wanted the pot to look rustic and distressed, as a contrast to the sparkle of the globe, so I dry brushed the creamy paint mixture. The pot also has a couple of chips and a crack in the rim. I think they call that character.

A flameless votive inside the pot adds a soft glow to the globe.

One of my milk glass cake stands on top of a vintage oval mirror, several small mercury glass ornaments, a few glitter stars and some acrylic ice crystals round out the centerpiece.

The sparkle and shine in the center of the dining room table is a nice complement to the arrangement on top of the buffet--one of those vignettes for which I retained a few elements from the previous year. I'll share that with you later.

Have you tried making your own mercury glass? Isn't it fun?

Make it a great day!