In this new series, DailyEdge.ie wants to help you get in touch with your inner Pinterest professional via some basic AF crafts – so simple, even Fionnuala can do them.

OF ALL THE household chores, my least favourite one to do, by and large, is bringing the empty glass to the bottle bank.

For starters, you will be reeking after, be it of pasta sauce or a questionable spirit you picked up in the airport on the way from Alicante, which also serves as a reminder of the night out you’d rather not speak of ever again.

If your waste provider doesn’t sort the glass for you, then you’re faced with the task of bringing the stuff to the actual bottle bank. The exercise itself can be quite cathartic (you’re smashing glasses, for God sake), but the trip itself can be inconvenient depending on where you live and what transport you have access to. 

Inspired by DaintyDressDiaries’ recent video on upcycling her household waste, I decided to try and make some storage containers/candle holders out of the jars.

Can’t see the video? Click here.

You will need

• A clear glass jar (you can coloured glass if you wish, but the paint looks better on a clear jar IMO.)
• Spray paint
• Sellotape 

That’s literally it. Of course, you can add extra decoration at your discretion, such as twine, ribbon, jewellery, sequins … The list goes on. 

Method

1. Clean thoroughly and disinfect, for obvious reasons. Soak your jars in warm water so as to remove any labelling they may have. 

2. Prepare your work station. If this is your first time using spray paint (as it is mine), you’re going to want to do it somewhere where you can afford to mess up and wearing clothes you can mess up in. Cover the area with cling film or newspaper, and secure it down with sellotape.

3. Use your sellotape to create a stencil. I’m just going for one bold block of colour at the end, but feel free to do multiple stripes should you be that way inclined. You can use paper to create a more complicated stencil design, but I’m too wary about fucking this way up. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz.

4. Spray away! Make sure to pick up spray paint that’s specifically for glass. I didn’t prime my glass.

5. Let it dry, and then you’re done! Fill ‘er up!

Here’s how mine turned out …

If you couldn’t already tell, I sellotaped the shite out of the jar, thus eliminating that scissors-gliding-through-paper feeling of ripping the sellotape off leaving a nice clean line. In fact, I had to hack it off with said scissors, leaving me with this.

I also don’t think I washed the jar very thoroughly, as there’s still some pesky glue on the surface of it. I think this also affected the spray paint cover (note to self going forward – use a poxy primer!)

It’s not horrendous, but practice will probably make perfect when it comes to future spray paint jobs.

What now?

You can use it as is for storage or a cute lil’ vase for flowers. Alternatively, if you’re looking to give a gift that’s a bit different, feel it with dry measured ingredients from a recipe for brownies/cookies (if you have no idea what I’m taking about, look below.)

Got any crafting ideas that the most basic b*tch could manage it? Email fionnuala@dailyedge.ie with suggestions and she might just give it a bash!

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