Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Calming Glitter Jars for Cool People

Glitter jars. Glitter. Glue. Jar. It gets no easier than this. Seriously, it's harder to make a picture frame with macaroni glued to it. And with those 3 ingredients, you can make a super-relaxing bottle of shake-up chill-out tonic. Don't drink it though.


There's glue in it.



Everyone's got a mason jar in their house somewhere. Yes, you do too. I'll wait.

It's cool. Probably in the back of that closet... with the half-burned candles? No? Check the hope chest.

Under the sink?

Yeah, there it is. I told you. Dust it off, polish it up, scrape off the sink gunk, and make sure it has a two-part lid. One part screws on the top, and the other part has a rubber ring on the bottom. Both parts are equally i

As for the glitter, anyone who has ever crafted probably has some kind of glitter in their stash. I've been known to buy a packet of glitter or two in my day, so I was fortunate enough to have a few different kinds of complementing colors. The color was white, and sparkly white, and star-shaped also white. Be jealous of my color combinations there.

So the only really tricky factor here is having the right kind of glue. If you have glitter glue, you're good. If you have clear elmers-like glue, you're good. If you have neither, I'm afraid it's time for a trip to Ye Locale Crafte Shoppe (AKA Michael's) to humble yourself before the glory of the glue section. As far as I know, clear Elmer's and clear Tacky glue both work, I've also tested the Cheapest Glitter Glue on the Planet (from the 99c store), and it worked just fine. So be a rebel crafter and blaze a new trail through the unknown. Don't believe what I say. Find out on your own.

But I digress.

Then you need water. Yeah, I didn't mention the water before, but chances are, if you turn on the tap in your sink, water comes out. Put that water in a pot. And put that pot on the stove. And put that stove on high. Yeah, that's right - we're boiling water here. We can't fear danger.

If you're feeling adventurous, now's the time to put a drop of food coloring in your jar. Just a drop. Make it count.

Now pour some boiling water into your jar, a tiny bit below the neck of the jar. Squeeze a bunch of that glue in there. Don't be shy. I squeeze about a half a bottle, maybe more. The more glue you put in, the slower the glitter will fall when you shake up the jar.

Then dump a lot of glitter in it. If you think you're done, you're not. You want a nice big pile of glitter on the bottom when it settles. I put in about 2 tbsp of glitter glue, and about 3 tubes of glitter in - pretty good, but I don't think it's possible to put in too much, so just keep going.

Now stir! I used a whisk. Basically, you want to see the glue dissolve totally, so you don't end up with a chunky mind jar. You know, not that there's anything wrong with chunky. I'm a little chunky too, so chunky solidarity. But, in this case, you want to downplay the chunky, so whisk it away.

Time for the lid. Put on the plate with the rubber ring, and then screw the top on. When the jar cools enough, you'll hear a POP! That tells you your jar is sealed and ready, and exactly why you don't need to bother with sealing the lid. It does it FOR you, because Mason/Ball/Kerr jars are made by winners, for winners. Don't shake it up until you hear that pop, though. If you missed it, wait a good 24 hours to be sure. When the jar is cold, it's guaranteed to be sealed if you did it right. If you shake it up and water comes out, it's time to get the glitter glue back out and start again.

So, you've got a totally sweet jar full of glitter and glue, now what?

Look at it, man. I mean... really... loooook at it. Shake it, and hold it. Watch it spin. Shake it up and get all that anger out, then watch it all fall and settle. Feel groovy. Use it as a rough timer for brushing your teeth, or for a time out for your crazy little ones. Teach someone to meditate, all you have to do is shake it up and watch it settle, and your mind will settle too.

Very groovy, man.

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