DIY: Glitter Jars

I am so happy to finally get this diy up and ready. I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the lack of pictures of the process, I am sorry, but at least the directions are what matter. But before we get to it I want to explain a little about these glitter jars.

I'm not sure where the original idea of this came from. You can search pinterest or google for "glitter jars" or "mind jars" or "calm jars" they are all the same thing. I've heard of numerous ways people use these. Number one being I know a lot of people in the self harm community use these to ward off what they do. They are also used for children for time outs or just calming them down (Though I don't suggest giving these to an angry child, temper tantrums and glass items generally don't mix). I've also heard of them used for just destressing, but mainly they make pretty decorations that are fun to watch. Basically how it works is you have the jar, you shake it up, then you watch the glitter fall letting yourself calm down and destress as you watch the glitter fall.

What you'll need:

A jar that is sealable. (I used a ball mason jar.)
Food coloring. (I used neon to help with bright colors.)
Clear glue. (Elmer's or tacky glue is fine, just make sure it is clear.)
And a bunch of glitter.

It's also important to have a way to heat up water such as a teapot, or some pot or other and you will need a whisk or fork to mix it up. I bought my little metal whisk at the dollar store for like two dollars.

One of the number one things I have to tell you is to NOT use glitter glue. I cannot emphasis that enough. I did with my first two jars and you'll see how they turned out. It was much better to just use the clear glue.

Step number one is to start heating up the water.

While the water is heating up you should get all of your stuff ready. There is nothing more annoying than realizing you left out something.

I ended up using more glitter than what was in these photos, but I didn't use the whole container of glitter either. It's good to have different weights of glitter because they will fall at different times and the other shapes make it more interesting to look at.

Put a drop of food coloring in you jar, and fill it up about halfway with water. It's here that if you want to make the color lighter you can dump out some of it and just fill it up more with water. If you do decide to dump some please remember the jar will be hot. Either way you want the jar to only be half or 3/4 filled with water because you will be putting a lot of glue in it.

The next step is dumping in the glue. The more glue you have the slower the glitter will fall. I have one jar that I put almost an entire bottle of glue in and it takes it like five minutes to settle. The rest of the jars I did only about half and they aren't as good to destress to unless you shake them again, it only takes them a minute or so to settle.

You'll want to start using your whisk here. The hot water helps to break up the glue but the whisk will help it dissolve into the water. (My whisk almost didn't fit, so when I got it in instead of stirring I rubbed the handle between my hands like a kid who's trying to light a fire with a stick).

Then comes the fun part of dumping in all of the glitter, don't be afraid to get generous with it. When you think you are good use the whisk again to see how it looks when you stir it. Then add a bit more if need be, I always added more even after that until I got the effect I wanted.

Top it off with more water from your teapot if necessary. You will see bubbles, do not be worried about them you just want to fill up the jar until you can't see the bubbles or anything under the lid when you put it back on. Then you let it sit and wait for the pop to hear if it's sealed. You can also glue the lids for an extra safety measure but if you are using mason jars you really don't have to worry about it.

Clean up and wait for the jars to seal/cool. Then enjoy!

These were my original two, I used the glitter glue in these like most tutorials suggest but the water came out incredibly cloudy and I did not like it. But afterwards I made more without the glitter glue and it helped tremendously. You can make them in any color and can use them to decorate any room. I made twelve and gave most of them to my friends for stress relief around final's time, but the rest I kept for myself and I have to say they look pretty even just sitting on a shelf. Here photos of some unshaken and shaken.