Faux Mercury Glass Trees ~ Another $Store Creation

So I raided my local Dollar Tree ~ Can't you tell by all of these frugal projects lately! These charming little trees were too cute to pass up - though a little too glitzy. Nothing a little paint couldn't handle!

I saw Let it Shine antique these trees on the DollarStoreCrafts and decided to try and make mine look like Mercury Glass instead.

I pulled out some silver and black acrylic paints and went to work.


I used a dry brush technique and gave them a light coat of silver to start. You want to use as little paint as possible. Dipping into the paint just a tad, wiping the excess off on a paper towel, lightly brush over the mirrored tiles.


While that is still drying, take your brush and lightly stipple on the black paint, again dapping any excess off on the paper towel. You want to make a random pattern and try not to apply that much black.


While the paint is still a little wet take an old cloth and wipe down the tree. You want to make sure that you apply pressure from the inside with your hand as you wipe, as the trees are not that durable.

Next, using the scratchy side of a scrub sponge you want to scrub the painted surface, scrapping off a bit of paint to expose the original mirrored tiles. You can see in the photo above where the paint is starting to chip away. The harder you scrub the more the paint is removed. Repeat the painting and 'exfoliating' process until you achieve a desired look. It took me approximately three coats.

I still don't have a 'home' for them yet, (and boy are they hard to photograph) but here they are next to some other Mercury Glass pieces.

Not bad for one dollar...well, okay, two! Enjoy! XOXO