Greening Austin Daily

Making Planters from Old Jars (semi-green failure)

16th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

This is a craft project I did a couple of months ago – I had just picked up a couple of succulents and a cactus and wanted some planters for them.  I found this cute idea on design sponge and thought I would try my own version.  I knew I wasn’t artistic enough to make as nice of a design, so decided to make a simple K and E for my name and my husband’s name, and a plus sign.

I loved the idea of using old jars and cans for this project.  I found three containers – one was an old vase a friend had given me, one was a salsa jar, and one was a spaghetti sauce jar.  After letting the jars soak in warm water I was able to get the labels to come completely off.

After making sure the containers were fully dry I experimented with the letters using puffy paint.  Luckily the paint wiped completely off each time I messed up, and finally I got something I was happy with.

The next step was not very environmentally friendly (thus, semi-green fail). I used white spray paint to put a coat on each container.  Paints with low or zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are  supposed to be less harmful to the environment, but from what I can find I don’t think that’s an option in spray paint.  If I did this project again I would just skip the paint altogether since I think the planters look pretty cool with just the puffy paint, plus I think it’s cool to be able to see the root system through the glass.

E!!!

k!!!

So anyway, after I let them dry a few hours I planted my cactus and two succulents and ta da!  I love them and I learned a little about what paints I shouldn’t be buying in the future!  And here they are a few months later: