When Simple Projects Go Horribly Wrong

I thought this project was going to be one of the easiest I’ve done in a long time. Seriously. Easy peasy.

After all, Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage made it look very easy! She brushed some paint on a glass bottle, let it dry, sanded it a bit, then embellished the bottle.

It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Several years ago, I had purchased a set of decanters at a yard sale because I loved the shape, but I’ve never really used them. So I thought that a little painting and embellishing would be the perfect thing to do with them!  I gathered paints that I already had…and that I was sure would work on glass.  First up, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in orange (can’t remember the exact color).

Then green and turquoise in Martha Stewart craft paint.

The MS craft paint says specifically that it can be  used on glass, so I was sure I wouldn’t have any problem with it.  And people sing the praises of ASCP, and how it’ll stick to anything, so I was confident that I wouldn’t have a problem with it either.

Well, all three went on super streaky.

No problem, right?  I could just do a second coat.  And that’s where things went horribly wrong.  As I was brushing the second coat on, it would pull up the first coat of paint in places.

The ASCP did the absolute worst.  The Martha Stewart craft paint did a little better, but it wasn’t great.

So then I tried to wash the paint off.  The ASCP came off very easily.  The Martha Stewart paint…not so much.  I got about this far on the bottle, running it under water while using sandpaper, and then I finally gave up.  It just wasn’t coming off easily.

So I gave up for the time being (since my attitude wasn’t the best by that point…LOL) 😀 , and decided that I’d just wait until today to finish cleaning the bottles and start over.

Big mistake!  The MS paint has now “set” on the bottles.  I tried scratching some of it off with my fingernail this morning, and the paint didn’t even budge.

So, that’s a big ‘ole fail for me.  And just goes to show…sometimes the seemingly simplest projects don’t always work out.

I won’t give up completely.  I’ve held on to these bottles for about five years now because I really like them.  I just have to figure out where I went wrong.  I certainly won’t try ASCP on glass again.  And I think with the MS craft paint, I just didn’t let the first coat dry long enough before I tried to put the second coat on.  My impatience cost me valuable time.

Have you ever painted on glass with a brush…with success?  How did you do it?  I’ve only ever used spray primer and spray paint on glass, and it worked well, but this was my first time trying to use a brush.

And have you ever had a seemingly easy project go horribly wrong?  Tell me about it!

 

 

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25 Comments

  1. I had a similiar effect with ASCP when I tried to paint a cheap gold frame from walmart. It was wasted time. I see others do it and it always looks so pretty.

  2. Yes I had a howler of a project just today. From a charity shop I bought a small simple orchid set in resin within a small glass vase. I wanted to remove the flower and then put it inside a large bell jar type vase that I have sitting empty. Well the flower wouldn’t come out of the resin, so I wrapped the small vase in plastic, then in a towel and hit it with a hammer, it shattered and I was able to remove the flower. Trouble is in the process I got a glass splinter which made by hand bleed, all over the white orchid – I now have a red spotted orchid instead. I’ll have to tell people it’s a rare breed.

      1. Thanks Krisi, I’ve trimmed the edges of the petals that were stained, no more red dots LOL. Glad you got your bottles sorted out.

  3. I have had several problems. Furniture you name it. Here is what I have learned no matter how simple it seems I now investigate before I start it. I do my research before I start on anything. I have tried to follow several blogs which horrible results after re-stripping my kitchen table twice I learned. For your glass turning out bad some paints need a undercoat, some can’t be used with other glass paint, and some need to be heated. Some bloggers don’t give all the steps, or the paints they have used because it doesn’t seem that important. Did you wipe your glass down with alcohol first? Simple things can make a big difference. So now when I am doing something that I found on another sight I go to paint sight and see what they suggest and combine both what the blogger did and what the sight recommends. Because if I use one wrong product it is a start over and I hate start overs or ruining it. But I love the very fact you admit when it goes wrong. : ). I have many things even with perfect directions that go wrong. Thanks

  4. Bummer…too bad, those are really cute bottles too!!~ I used the ASCP chalk paint on a wine bottle and will be featuring it soon. It turned out cute too. Oh well you tried Kristi!

  5. It sounds like you’re right…you just didn’t let the first coat of MS pain dry long enough. I’ve actually had really good luck with pouring paint inside the bottles instead. Granted, it renders the bottle unusable as an actual water vase, but the results are really great! I’ve added a smidge of water to make it go farther (or a paint medium that thins it out). Prime them and start over?? Good luck 🙂

    1. I definitely want to try the paint-on-the-inside-of-the-bottle thing. But on this one, I did just want you said…primed and started over. 🙂 They actually turned out great!

  6. Thank you so much for the heads up {to save me from a similar epic fail!} I’m navigating my first experience with ASCP and it’s really helped to figure out what it is {rustic, imperfect, aged} vs. what it isn’t {even, and suitable for every surface}. I guess we learned that glass isn’t the best…add that to wicker/rattan, just FYI. 😉

  7. How long do you have? Yes, I’ve had tons of horrible failures. Tons. Painting furniture? egad. I don’t go near it now after umpteen attempts and pulled hair.

    Painting glass is . . . tricky. I haven’t tried ASCP but I’ve used Martha several times with no problems. But then, I didn’t do a full coating like you did. I’ve also tried glass medium, PermEnamel, on and on. Glass is tricky. Did you clean the bottles with rubbing alcohol first? That might help. And, yes, the drying time. That’s a biggie.

    Next time I play around with painting glass, I’ll basecoat the entire thing and see how it goes 🙂

  8. Something that went wrong? Me? LOL A lot of the time!!! My most recent was painting the front door and now seeing some come off around the door knob … what is up with that!
    Hugs,
    Bj

  9. Ever had a project go bad? I think my favorite, the one that still stands out, was trying a kit I bought that was supposed to make a counter top look like a concrete counter. I’ll never know if the kit was entirely flawed or I was. Before it was over I threw in and just went ahead and got new counters! LOL The faux concrete was intended to delay what I knew was inevitable. In the end it sped it along and just cost me extra money. A few years later I can finally laugh about it!

  10. I am currently making a paper mache pinata for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party. The first ‘draft’ of it, I’m betting a grade 3 student could have done a better job for their art class. I’m on round 2 and it’s looking better but it was so absurd that I was like How can a grown woman not plaster a balloon with newspaper, flour and water and have it go wrong?

  11. I’ve painted glass, ceramic, tile, laminate, metal, lacquered cabinets , you name it , with Caromal Colours textured basecoat paints and those babies will NOT come off anything you paint it on – its funny, I’ve rep’d their paints for 4 years now – they were the first DIY ‘sticks to anything, no stripping priming, sanding’ paint that hit the market but no one heard about them because they were a small company – then 3 years later chalk paint stepped foot in the US market and was marketed to death as the ‘sticks to anything ‘ paint. I also am a retailer for CeCe Caldwell Chalk AND Clay paints – 100% green line of paints that yes, sticks to nearly any surface – I’ve used it on glass and metal – BUT….. big but , these paints NEED to be sealed – of course they will wipe off, scratch off, if you don’t. CeCe’s got 2 great topcoats , a clear wax (that is non-toxic AND doesnt smell!) and a satin finish which offers even more durability- brush one either of those and your paint will cure nicely and stay put!

  12. I found this thread earlier today when I was searching for a solution to the same problem. I was painting mason jars with ASCP. The firat coat was very streaky, but I thought the second coat would fix that. While appylung the 2nd coat, the paint started lifting off the glass, and still appeared streaky. I was SO bdisappointed! Got online to find a fix. Something just hit me while reading all the comments on this thread. I had been using foam brushes on the jars, because I didn’t want to have to rinse my good, ASCP brush after each color (me being lazy!). So I got out the good brush, and VOILA! The paint went on like butter! A few places stuck here and there, but were quickly covered up. This coat on the jars took me half the time I spent on the first coat. And the paint just rinses iff the brush with water. I wish I could show pics! I was so upset before, and now I’m in love with these jars. They’re so pretty, I may have a difficult time distressing them tomorrow! Anyway, I just didn’t want yiu to give up. Your bottles are so beautiful and unique. Maybe a different brush? – Dez 🙂

  13. I found this thread earlier today when I was searching for a solution to the same problem. I was painting mason jars with ASCP. The firat coat was very streaky, but I thought the second coat would fix that. While appylung the 2nd coat, the paint started lifting off the glass, and still appeared streaky. I was SO bdisappointed! Got online to find a fix. Something just hit me while reading all the comments on this thread. I had been using foam brushes on the jars, because I didn’t want to have to rinse my good, ASCP brush after each color (me being lazy!). So I got out the good brush, and VOILA! The paint went on like butter! A few places stuck here and there, but were quickly covered up. This coat on the jars took me half the time I spent on the first coat. And the paint just rinses iff the brush with water. I wish I could show pics! I was so upset before, and now I’m in love with these jars! Anyway, I just didn’t want you to give up. Your bottles are so beautiful and unique. Maybe a different brush? – Dez 🙂

  14. I found this thread earlier today when I was searching for a solution to the same problem. I was painting mason jars with ASCP. The firat coat was very streaky, but I thought the second coat would fix that. While appylung the 2nd coat, the paint started lifting off the glass, and still appeared streaky. I was SO bdisappointed! Got online to find a fix. Something just hit me while reading all the comments on this thread. I had been using foam brushes on the jars, because I didn’t want to have to rinse my good, ASCP brush after each color (me being lazy!). So I got out the good brush, and VOILA! The paint went on like butter! A few places stuck here and there, but were quickly covered up. This coat on the jars took me half the time I spent on the first coat. And the paint just rinses iff the brush with water. I wish I could show pics! I was so upset before, and now I’m in love with these jars! Anyway, I just didn’t want you to give up. Your bottles are so beautiful and unique. Maybe a different brush? – Dez 🙂
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoppeDeziLu

  15. Hi Kristi, Sorry for the disappointing experience…I would like to share a tip I learned long long ago.
    Same problem, started second coat of paint, only to have first coat start to peel. Even though what ever I was painting at the time looked dry, not even. So my teacher shared her secret. Always touch the objects. If it feels cold…it is not ready for a second coat, if it feels room temperature, it can take another coat. This is something I always practice. Hope it helps.

    Lena