4th of July Fireworks Etched Mason Jar

In honor of the 4th of July, I decided to paint a mason jar with fireworks and families watching them.  This would be a great little snack jar for hard candies, or my favorite, M&Ms.

For this project I used etchall® dip ‘n etch which is a re-usable liquid, the consistency of water.  When you submerge your jar into the liquid, it will etch the entire outside of the jar.   

SUPPLIES NEEDED to etch the jar: etchall® dip ‘n etch, a square glass mason jar, plastic container (I used a soda bottle), water, marker, marbles or glass rounds to hold down the jar in the liquid.

A 2 liter plastic soda bottle with the top cut off works great as a dipping container. Save the top to use as a funnel for returning your dip to the jar!  This stuff is reusable!

I filled the mason jar with glass rounds to weigh it down, put the mason jar into the empty plastic soda bottle, and filled the container with water to 4″ up the side of the jar. Then I removed the jar from the container and marked the water level with a marker.  Pour out the water and thoroughly dry both the plastic container and the glass jar. You do not want to get water in your dip ‘n etch! 

Pour dip ‘n etch into the container to the level that you marked.   Place the mason jar in the container and leave in for 15 minutes.    

Remove the jar from the container and rinse under running water. Clean and rinse with soap and water.

Now for the magic.  Pour dip ‘n etch from the soda bottle back into the original jar to be re-used.  You can use the cut off top of the soda bottle as a funnel. 

Painting the Design:  Because I am a painter, and because I haven’t mastered my cutting machine yet, I decided to paint this design.  You will need these supplies:

Dual Point IdentiPens Set of 8 Colors (Black, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Blue, Green Red, Purple). *  A Posca White Paint Pen  *  Folk Art Black Enamel or Multi-Purpose paint  *  A small round paint brush  *  Scotch Tape 

Print out the pattern on a regular sheet of copy paper (8.5″ X 11″).  Figure out where you want your Silhouette people to be.  Cut out the small section of the pattern.  Tape the long pattern section inside the glass jar using scotch tape on the top and the bottom.  Add the small pattern section.  To keep the pattern from moving while you ink and paint the design, fill the jar with the glass rounds.  

Begin by outlining the silhouettes of the people and the ground with the Black IdentiPen.  (You can even fill in the silhouettes with the black pen if it is easier for you.)  Now, use the IdentiPen colors to ink the lines of the fireworks, leaving a hole in the center for the white.  The white will be the last step.  

Make sure you lay the glass down when inking and painting, as the glass distorts the pattern.  (I put the jar on my lap and look down on it to ink and paint)   When the fireworks are all inked, pick up your brush and some black paint and fill in the silhouettes and the grassy area at the bottom of the jar.  Flip some paint up to indicate grass in a few areas.  Let the black paint dry.

Take your white Posca pen and dab the middle of the fireworks with the white paint.  Pull out some lines to accentuate the fireworks.  Add some little asterisks to indicate fireworks around the 4th of July logo.  Let the white paint dry.

Your 4th of July Fireworks Jar is now ready to fill with snacks.

Here is the pattern.  Make sure you print it out on a full sheet of copy paper.  Have fun with this.  I did.