Give your vases a starring role

Create one-of-a-kind containers to display your beautiful blooms

rather than letting your glass vases and other decorative vessels sink into the scenery, give them a starring role around your home with a quick DIY makeover using specialty paints, twine or crafttime remnants. Oh, and PS, these beauties will cost you next to nix!

1HEY, GROUPIE

Bunched up nice and close, it’s amazing what impact you can create with recycled, samesized clear glass bottles, simply tied together with jute twine. To make them, wrap twine around the perimeter of your grouping of six bottles, at about waist height, and then tie it off. Use more twine between rows of bottles to tie them into a neat grid, knotting the twine to the perimeter.

2FROSTY FINISH

You can easily bring a subtle frosted effect to clear glass vases, jars and bottles. For a simple dipped look, use painter’s tape to mark out your design for a clean edge. Mask off the parts you don’t want to paint with more tape and newspaper, then spray the exposed glass with frost-effect paint. Let dry. Remove the newspaper and tape. Hint: spray a trio of vases with mixed designs for an impressive display.

3HANGING OUT

To make these gems, repurpose glass laboratory-style flasks with lips. Cut and position a length of twine as a handle, extending the ends down the sides of the flask neck. Leaving a 10cm-long tail, wrap twine around the flask neck and over the handle ends. When you’re happy with the look, cut twine and tie it to the tail, then knot the handle ends to secure.

4LOOK WHO’S CHALKING! Did you know you can buy chalkboard spray paint? Sure thing! With 2-3 light coats of this specialty paint product, you can transform almost any clean and dry container into a surface ready to be written on… with chalk! A nice idea for place markers at a dinner party.

5GO GLITZY, GO GLAM!

Painting glass vessels is so quick and easy! And to make your vases look better than ever before, choose selfpriming spray paint in shimmering gold to mimic this luxe effect. Search your recycling bin for textured and patterned jars, then spray each one, working in a well-ventilated area. Arranged along the centre of your table, these vessels ooze va-va-voom when brimming with elegant blooms.

6BUOY, OH BUOY! Adore the nautical vibe of net-covered bottles and glass floats? You can borrow the theme for this little-bit-beachy idea to bring interest to clear and coloured glass bottles, jars and any other vases you can lay your hands on. You’ll need remnants of fringing, netting, rope and cord – the more textured they are the better! Drape, knot and hot-glue remnants over bottle necks or tuck around the waists. Ahoy, there!