So as you may know I am a photographer of a 365 days projects - a mind blowing idea-bin, where you get either inspired one day, or wander around burnt out the other day. When it's inspiring, it's a really good day, when it's not... well, let's not talk about that.

Now you wonder how all this is connected to the above photo, am I right?

Well, this picture is one of the photos of the 'more inspired' days of 365 projects, and since I made it, people constantly asked me how to make them. (for decoration and photo prop purposes both)

I'd like to share the very easy way of making long-lasting glowing jars for your home, that is a perfect fit for eerie halloween decoration set ups. When it's dark, or even in a bit darker shade (at least with the paint I used) they emit this reeeally bright light for hours! (I can also state it works for years, I actually have glow jars made 5 years ago!)

Step 1: Grab Your Materials!

I have to say, probably this is the second to hardest step in this tutorial, I am telling you, this is really easy to make! :)

Get yourself a:

bowl filled with water (to clean the brush as much as you can when changing colors)
a brush that you don't mind ruining / a ruined brush
glow paint
jars!
safe clothing (the paint is water resistant when dried, so you can't get it out from anything)

The hard part is to find a glow paint that is bright and long lasting. I used poliglow for this project, but it's no longer available, even in the EU. There's a light at the end of the tunnel though: with a pinch of luck, you can find good quality glow in the dark paints* with just a bit of looking around on the internet. (*the link I provided is an affiliate link which means, that if you do choose to buy that paint, I get a small commission from your purchase - it does not mean you have to pay more for the product though)

Step 2: Shake, Shake, Stir, Stir, Get Ready to Dot!

This might seem like a made-up step, but... it's actually very important to stir your paint before you start making the actual project, to make the pigments mix well.

Step 3: Dot-a-lot!

On the inside of the jar, start making tiny dots.

Go from the top to the bottom of the jar, and try to keep the dots close to each other, but not too close so they become a big ball of paint in it - unless it's 2 different colors, that can actually work pretty well.

This is kind of a tedious process, if you are working with a bigger jar (in the tutorial, I used a small one), especially if you want to keep your work as precise as possible.

Don't rush it, if you get tired of it, since you can't wash the paint off, just put it away until you want to finish it. :)

Step 4: Charge...then Ta-daa!

After the paint dried, test your creation.

Put it under a lamp or out in the sun for a few minutes then you will see how much it glows even with this little time of charging.

Step 5: Where a Thank You Is Due...

Thank you for following me through this tutorial, I hope that some of you will like it, and maybe even try it one day - it is really a soothing DIY to make with all the dotting. :)

If you have questions or thoughts about this project, please do let me know, I would love to hear your feedback! If you are interested in more of my projects and collections of pretty things, don't hesitate to visit my blog :)

Now, go, and have a nice, creative day!

Ps.: Legend says that blacklight helps even more with the glowing effect, so if you have that around, give it a go!