blue bottles

I made something this weekend that makes me really, really happy; and in the process I realized that I have a new favorite color. So long navy blue. Hello turquoise! I saw a tutorial online for painting glass, and I remembered the collection of little glass bottles tucked away under my kitchen sink. Last fall my dad let all of us kids go up in the woods and dig around in the pile of junk (left there from the previous owners) in search of glass bottles. We found dozens of little bottles, and my Dad let me take home as many as I wanted (I have a really awesome dad). I chose eight in various shapes and sizes. I had thought that washing 50 year old dirt out of bottles would be easier than it actually was. Several days and attempts later I chose the nicest three to hold flowers for a few days, and then they ended up back under the kitchen sink. I really, really wanted to use those bottles in my daily decorating; but some of them were just so dirty that I couldn’t bring myself to use them.

Within minutes of reading through the painting tutorial the collection of glass bottles were on my kitchen table, and I was in the middle of painting. I cannot tell you how much I love seeing these cuties on my table. Aren’t they just the cutest little turquoise bottles you have ever seen? I could not believe how easy this was. I can barely see any remaining dirt on the inside of the bottles, and I think turquoise colored bottles are way cuter than plain old clear glass bottles. If you want to paint your own bottles or other glass objects this is what you will need.

Clean glass bottles. Mine were clean on the outside and as clean as I could get them on the inside. The outside is what really matters here.


Modpodge. I got mine at a craft store. It is pretty inexpensive and lasts forever. I have had mine for over five years.

A paintbrush. This one came in a small collection at the craft store - nothing expensive.

Food coloring. You can use water-based or paste. I used paste because that’s what I had on hand. If you want to make turquoise, use a combination of mostly blue and just a hint of green.


Paper plates.

Scrap paper or newspaper.

Cover your painting area in paper.

Pour a small amount of modpodge onto a paper plate. Work with only one or two bottles at a time as the modpodge dries quickly.

Add the food coloring a small bit at a time. Toothpicks work well for adding the color if you are using paste food coloring. I wanted various shades of turquoise bottles so I used varying amounts of green and blue.

Mix the coloring into the modpodge with a paintbrush adding more as needed.

Paint a light coat of the modpodge over the outer surface of the glass bottles. Try to keep the brush strokes as even as you can. Set them on paper plates to dry.


If you will be using the bottles as little vases for flowers you may want to seal the glass to protect the coloring. If you are like me then you can just wing it by pouring water very carefully from a glass measuring cup into the bottles. If the bottles do get wet the coloring will run a little, but I wanted them on my table with flowers.

Two days later the bottles are still just as cute as can be. Every time I walk past my dining room table they make me smile. The bottles turned out even more darling than I anticipated, and I love that they are a really nice memory of spending time with my family.


Thanks Dad! These little bottles are now a permanent part of my home decoration, and I LOVE them.