Festive Holiday Stained Thrifted Glass Candle Holders DIY
Do you love all the sparkle and shimmer of the holiday season? Today I am sharing how to stain thrifted candlestick holders turning them into festive and beautiful decor accents. This easy thrifted glassware glow up turns everyday pieces into trend forward decorations.
This is an easy DIY tutorial which can be customized to your colors of choice and to the glass candle holders you pick up at your local thrifts. Easy, economical and environmentally conscious. It doesn’t get better than that. Join me as we get crafty!
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Inspiration Behind the Holiday Stained Thrifted Glass Candle Holders DIY
If you’re a regular reader, then you might remember this post from earlier this year {How to Stain Thrifted Glassware} when common glass candle holders were dyed for the Valentine’s Day holiday. The transformation was a fabulous DIY, which gave the basic glass pieces a fabulous glow up.
Pink and red are not popular colors for decor around here though. SO, I was inspired to repurpose these stained pieces into pieces I can use all year long with colors which coordinate my style and decor aesthetic. The colors used are perfect to sprinkle through our Christmas decor. With a little bit of decoupage medium and food coloring you can give these basic glass pieces a glow up into fun and festive Holiday decor. Remember, use colors which coordinate with your home interior and make you happy.
How to Stain Thrifted Glassware
I picked up an assortment of glass candle holders for a few dollars at a couple of thrifts. By using a variety of glass candle holders in different shapes and sizes adds interest. Plus the festive colors turned these glass pieces from drab to fab.
Supplies
- Glass candle holders
- Decoupage medium
- Food coloring
- Popsicle sticks
Tools
- Paint brushes
- Paint pots oor palettes
Crafting Pro Tip: It’s recommended with all projects to read the instructions through once and then re-read everything again. This way, you are familiar with everything you need and know what to expect.
Instructions
- Read instructions thoroughly and assemble all supplies & tools
- Wash all the glassware and dry thoroughly
- Pour some decoupage medium in a paint pot or palette and add a couple of food dye drops in desired color(s)
- Using popsicle stick mix dye and glue medium until incorporated fully, creating the stain medium
- Add more food dye until you reach desired hue (start slowly with one or two drops and go from there; you can always add more, but it’s not easy to remove food dye drops)
- Using paint brush gently apply a layer of stain on glass candle holder
- Set aside and allow to dry
- Once stain medium is fully dry apply another stain layer
- Repeat above steps until you reach desired color and opacity (I used 1 to 3 layers depending on the piece & color)
- Let pieces fully cure and dry (I allowed them to set overnight before handling to decorate and style)
- Voila! Enjoy you newly stained glassware
Thrifting Pro Tip: Make a list of items you would like to find while thrifting on your phone, and you will always have the list with you whenever you pop into a thrift. Update the list regularly as you find treasures and seek others. Have fun!
Tips & Tricks on How to Stain Thrifted Glassware
Colors & Hues
Since most food dye kits come with the four basic colors, red, blue, green and yellow, achieving the desired hue requires mixing and matching. It’s fun to play mad scientist and add more or less drops of the food dye to the glue to achieve the perfect color. There’s a variety of three greens from a light to a dark green and an olive. There’s also two yellow from a basic too a deeper more golden hue.
Shapes & Sizes
I recommend hunting for glass candle holders in different styles to increase the interest level. I used five different glass styles, keeping with the odd number rule. Some are bigger, while others are chunkier, and others are smoother adding variety and interest to the whole assortment.
Thrifting Pro Tip: Always have a list of items you are looking for and interested in along with any pertinent measurements for said items. Add the list to your notes in your phone so you always have the list with you.
Texture & Technique
I do not find it necessary to wipe the glassware with alcohol or nail polish remover before staining. The staining technique with and without the alcohol rub yielded the same results. A good cleaning with sudsy warm water does the trick and is enough. Paintbrush strokes are very evident when the stain is first applied. The strokes fade considerably upon drying, but some do remain depending on the shape of the glass piece.
Festive & Fun
Like I mentioned above these can be adapted to any occasion using different color options. Not only that, but since only glue and food dye is used, the stain can be easily removed to repurpose the glassware for another purpose. I soaked the pink and red pieces from Valentine’s Day in warm sudsy water to clean. Interestingly enough the stain peels off like an animal shedding its skin because of the glue consistency. The stains peels off like a deflated balloon. It was really easy and didn’t require any scrubbing.
More decorating, crafting and entertaining content is scheduled for the season. If you don’t want to miss any new content, you might enjoy following along. Sign up below and receive all new posts directly into your in-box. We would love to welcome you to the Masterpiece community.
Thrifting Pro Tip: Look at the potential of an item beyond its current state or condition. Items can be altered, up-cycled and recreated with TLC, elevating them to.a trend forward piece.
Closing Thoughts
What did you think of the glassware staining technique? If you give it a try, please share with me. I would love to see your finished pieces. I’m loving the stained glassware glow up and can’t wait to use them in my Christmas decor.
Thank you for being here today. hope you enjoyed yourself and learned something new. See ya next time. Au revoir!
Shopping the Stained Glassware Look
- Assorted Glass Candlestick Holders
- Taper Candle Holders Clear Glass
- ModPodge Medium
- Basic Food Dye Kit
- Craft Paint Brush Set
- Palette Painting Tray
- Wood Popsicle Sticks
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Being green is more than just buying ‘eco’. It is an unshakable commitment to a sustainable lifestyle.”
Jennifer Nini