Beauty In The Jar

I saw this beautiful cookie jar on the Neiman Marcus website.  After checking out the price, I thought to myself that I could do this at home and get a similar effect without paying the expensive price.

Although I did not have a jar with a ceramic lid at home.  I did have a couple of similar jars that I could work with.   I started to put on my thinking hat and looked through my craft box.  I went to Michael's craft store and Home Depot to see what I could find.  Unfortunately I couldn't find anything similar that I could use to replica the look.  But I used some of the things I bought from Michael's and here are the replicas:

Glass bead knob

Brass bead knob

Here were what I used for this project:

Materials:

Lid from the glass cookie jar
Black enamel paint
White enamel paint
Dry erase marker
Flat brush
Small brush
Beads (Glass and Brass)
Designer chromets
E4000 Glue

Instructions:

1. Clean the lid with soapy water first and dry them.  Unscrew the knob and use a ruler to measure the diameter of the lid.  Draw straight lines across with even spacing.

2.  Turn to opposite side and repeat step #1 to make a checker pattern.

4.  Put an "X" on the area where black will be painted on.

5.  Place the lids on a protected surface before painting.  Using a flat brush and paint the white area carefully by skipping the "X" spots, then paint the black next.  Let dry first before applying a second coat.  Use a small brush for missing spots or touch ups.

6.  Let it air dry for an hour, then bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.  Cool off in the oven.

7.  When they are cooled off, srew the knob back on the lid.  Design and glue the desired pieces on top.   Make sure they fit properly with the hole.

8.  You can also design your own knob by getting a plain doll head from craft store and painting it, or you can get a cheaper and plain knob if you are design-challenged.

I bought these from Michael's but was only able to use a few of the pieces here.  It seem wasteful but I may use them to change the look in the future.

Note:
Use paper towel to wipe off dry erase marker if mistake was made.

I found that placing the lids on individual pie plate was really useful.  I was able to turn and paint to the desire aea without worrying about touching and messing up the paint on the lid.

A small brush is good to use on small details such as lines and corners.

I learned that it's easier to clean up the mistake right away by wiping off with a rag while the paint is still wet, but it looks better to let the paint dry first before applying a second coat.