How to: Glow in the Dark Jars

Glowing Jars

Glow in the dark polka dot jars - some call them Firefly jars

Glow in the dark jars

I wanted to make something neat to look at for my little boy when he's in bed at night so I made these jars. I had seen this previously on a this blog and I was so inspired!!   I used the Palmer Glow in the Dark paints..it was a set of six of them in a package in small pots. They come in six pretty colors- orange, yellow, pink, green, purple and pink.  I paid 1.99 for them on Ebay. It says you can use them on a variety of surfaces, including glass and I found this to be true but the paint is a bit thin.   There is not a whole lot of paint in the package either but it's plenty enough to make a few of these cute polka dot jars. One of the jars had cheese dip in it  and the other is a large mason jar.

Palmer Glow in the Dark Paint

I gathered up a couple jars and washed them to make sure they were clean and then I dipped the end of a small paintbrush into the paints and dotted it right onto the jar.  It leaves a perfectly round dot of paint. I tried to make sure there was a good amount of paint on the end of the brush so the dot would be thick as possible. After a couple dots, I would dip the end back into the paint just to be sure there was a good amount of paint to dot onto the jar.  I did one side, let it dry, turned it and did another side, let it dry and just kept going around the jar like that. I made a make-shift holder out of cardboard that I would lay the jar into so it wouldn't roll while I did the dots. I scattered the dots all around in one color, wiped off the paint from the end of the brush and then scattered dots of another color, I did this with all the colors.

cardboard that held jar while I put the dots on

first scattering of dots

after I added some more colors

The paint does glow in the dark but it doesn't seem to hold the charge long.. after a very short while the dots look dull at best but I think the jars are cute in plain light because of the colorful polkadots so that really made it worth it.  They look like little confetti dots on the jars.. and the paint has adhered to the glass really well, so far anyway.  I guess only time will tell how durable it is. I may do a clear coat on the outsides of them just in case.   I plan on giving this a try again with a more potent glow in the dark paint, maybe closer to Halloween.

I was looking around and there is quite a selection of glow in the dark paints on the market.  I was looking at some the other day that was super bright and they claimed the glow lasted 24 PLUS hours.. that's amazing to me. It was quite expensive but if it's really as great as they say, I think it would be worth it.  Anyway, when I get around to it and make some more, I'll be sure to post them.