I remember reading somewhere that mercury glass was once known as the poor man’s silver. But nowadays, that poor man’s silver is very expensive. And while I have a few pieces of silver and a couple of mercury glass ornaments, I felt I needed more to make an inpactful display. So I went on a search to find (read: make) more pieces of both silver and mercury glass and this is what my display looks like now….can you spot the impostors?
Impostor
The real deal
Impostor silver plate and stand
Real silver on the left
Hand made impostor
Real
Real on the left…impostor on the right
Real
Ummm…way fake…
…but looking regal after a spray paint intervention.
Imitation
Here’s my display at night
I love how the candles shimmer and the light is
reflected on the silver…it’s so warm and inviting.
Ok, so you can obviously spot the real from the impostors by scrutnizing the pictures, but with a little ingenuity you can create a beautiful table or mantel place landscape with a poor man’s budget.
I was not initially planning on doing a tutorial, but have put together a quick improvised one on how I made the candle holders.
I had bought all of my materials – except for the spray paint – from the dollar store and I’m sure you could yield even better results if you splurged a little more on the ornaments. But as I will be making several candle holders, I didn’t want to spend too much.
What you will need:
Shatter proof (ie. plastic) bulbs in two different sizes
A glass, wooden base
Glue gun or any strong adhesive glue
Sturdy wire (coat hanger wire works well) is optional
Metallic silver spray paint
Lid or small disc to place candle on
Let’s commence………
Remove hooks from bulbs (save these for another project, coming soon!).
It is now time to design your candle holder by deciding the configuration
or sequence of the bulbs that you would like. (ie. the one I made had the
following sequence: big bulb, followed by two small ones)
You cannot see it here, but I had marked the centre of the bulbs and carefully
drilled a hole the size of lip of the bulb (the lip being the section from where
the hook was removed). Drill all of the bulbs except the one that will sit on the top.
You will need to make a large cut out on the top of the last bulb
as this is where you will place the platform to hold the candle.
TIP: Heat a knife or exacto knife prior to cutting; it will slice through the plastic like butter.
I used a little ceramic plate from Bella’s tea set (sorry Bellie, I’ll replace
it, I promise!). Prior to this, I spray painted it with metallic silver.
You could also use a lid if you wish to hold a smaller candle as pictured above.
Glue the bulb to your platform. This one is a glass candle holder
from the dollar store which I had spray painted metallic silver.
It’s time to assemble the rest of your candle holder.
Insert the lip of your bulb (the lip being the section from where you removed
the hook) into the drilled hole as pictured above. You will then need to glue
these together for extra support. You may also elect to thread a sturdy wire
through each of the bulbs. Continue inserting and gluing until you have your
desired pattern and when done… stand back and admire your craftiness!!
As mentioned before, this was an improv tutorial so I’m sorry if the pictures
do not depict clear instructions (but I think you get the idea).
One more look……..
Once again, thank you for visiting the Craftberry Bush.
Much love,
Lucy
ps. I know it goes without saying, but please never leave candles unattended!!!!
too cute!
My dad gave me a collection of real silver, ummm….I don’t know what to call it….like a serving set. With a pitcher, plates, and the such. I left it at his house not knowing what to do with it. After reading this, yep, I’ll be picking it up this weekend!
Very smart tute!
I just popped over from Finding Fabulous. What a great idea! I love the tutorial too. Thanks for sharing your talents.
What a cool idea! With your mixed collection no one needs to know what’s real and what’s not!
Beautiful!
Everything be it real or fake looks great together! Love the lit up at night shots. Thanks for the tut.
Oh LUCY! What a fabulous job! I LOVE your tutorial-you are a clever, clever girl! It would be hard to spot the imposters without really scrutinizing everything closely. Imposters? Will the real Mercury glass please stand up? Hugs-Diana
Hi Lucy,
What a fabulous job! I love how it all looks on the tray! You know, I never thought of painting a glass candle stick before. Thanks so much for sharing.
Blessings,
Sandi
Hi Lucy,
I’m back. I just read your profile and see you are also a Canadian blogger! So I have signed up to follow. Would love to have you stop by and say hello. It’s nice to ‘meet’ you!
Blessings,
Sandi
What a beautiful vignette. Keep up the lovely work! Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you’ll stop by and enter my giveaway.
Very cool! I just had an attack of the silver spray paint this week myself. I like your resourcefulness in creating your display and your DIY candlestick. Thanks for sharing.
thanks, cool tutorial. who would have thought.
Hi Lucy! Oh my goodness girl, you are incredibly creative and talented! I cannot believe how clever that was and I love how it all looks glowing at night! Thanks so much for linking this up to the party, and now I need to go scroll through this post some more just to take it all in again! 🙂
Vanessa
Beautiful!!! I SO LOVE silver with white candles! I have such a display on my foyer table! This is beautiful…imposters and all!
I am a follower!
Lou Cinda 🙂
Fantastic tutorial, very clever fake, love it!
that’s pretty impressive! great idea!
I just love mercury glass and I love that you can actually make it yourself!! Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing this at Feathered Nest Friday! Your pieces are all beautiful! 🙂
This looks wonderful! I have some faux mercury glass in my Christmas display, too!
Stunning!
A fabulous tutorial.
Wow! I love it! The silver looks fabulous. I love your tutorial, thanks for sharing your secrets! 😉
I hope you can join my giveaway going on now, too! Have a great weekend.
http://alittleknickknack.blogspot.com/2010/11/giveaway-with-where-grass-is-greener.html
I love it all, mercury or silver. Silver is as I am sure you know the most highly reflective metal so it is very easy to spot. Your collection is beautiful. Visiting from VIF.
Imposter or not, it’s all just gorgeous! Love it all lit up at night. Wonderful photos, too! Thanks so much for linking up with VIF!
hugs,
Debra
What a gorgeous centerpiece friend!! I had never heard that about mercury glass & I LOVE it… Thanks for sharing, I’m visiting from Common Ground & I love your blog!
Smiles,
Susie
I too have been making fake mercury glass this week. It seems to be going around!
Looks very nice! Thanks for linking up for Friday Favorites last week!
Beautiful! I couldn’t tell the impostors!
Creative way to use ornaments! Great job and I love all the silver bling!
Love it lady! Cant wait to check out the rest of your blog!!
love your guts
mandi
FANTASTIC!! I just love it. I am so doing this with some wooden candlesticks hiding in my craft room. Thank you for the inspiration:) (Found you through CSI)
Love,
C:)