This
week's project was a request I received a while back. I love how
these little jars of jam turned out! You can really make any flavor
you desire, I chose the ones I did based on the nail polish colors I
knew I had on hand. I will list the exact colors I used but use
whatever you have that matches the flavors you want.
The
jars are made of some wooden pieces that I get at the craft store.
This shape is called a candle cup and I picked the 1” size. They
measure 1” tall and ¾” in diameter at their widest point. If you
find other shapes that you like in that general size feel free to use
them. It would be cute to make a couple of different shapes up so
that it looks like the dolls got different brands.
The
process of making a solid wood shape look like a translucent jar of
jam is kind of fun. First we need to paint our shape with a coat of
white craft paint. This will allow the light to look like it is
coming through the contents of the jars.
If
you are interested in learning how to make the drying rack I used I
have a tutorial for it on my Dollhouse Miniature Channel which you can find here. It is a really useful little tool that is made with
stuff I had in my craft room.
After
the white paint dries we can add our “jam” to the jars. For this
I love to use nail polish. It comes in just about every color you can
think of.
For
the Orange Marmalade I did find I needed to use 2 colors of polish.
First I put on a layer of a yellow followed by a layer of orange.
(both of these were from L.A. Colors but they don't have any kind of
name or number on the bottles- I get these at Dollar Tree)
For
the Strawberry Jam I used a really old bottle of Avon Speed Dry in
the color Red Red. I don't think this one is available any more but
any bright red will do.
For
the Raspberry Jam I used Avon Nailware Pro in Berry Smooth. It is a
nice purplish pink, berry color.
For
the Grape Jelly I used Avon Nailware Pro in Decadence. This one is a
“shimmer” color but it still works for this project mainly because it has a very subtle shimmer.
You
can use any polish that you want to just stay away from ones that
have glitter or a lot of pearl
essence
to them. I happen to have a lot of Avon polish because I sell Avon
but use any brand you have on hand.
I
found I needed 3 coats of the polish on the jars to get a good even
coverage. The only secret to this step is to make sure the polish is
totally dry between coats and again before you add the Triple Thick
gloss coats.
The
magic of the Triple Thick is that it is just that it is thick! So it
does turn these little pieces of wood coated in nail polish into
something that looks almost like glass jars of jam.
For
the labels I cut mine to be 1” wide by 3/8” tall. When I first
started playing around with the project I tried to make the labels ½”
tall and they just didn't hug the jars well enough. If the jars had
been straight sided I think the slightly taller label would have
worked great.
I
like the Sharpie Ultra Fine pens for this because they don't react
with the Mod Podge (or a glue) when we go to glue the label on. I
just hand lettered my labels but I bet you can make some really cool
labels if you try.
I
used Mod Podge but you could use white glue if that is all you have.
After
the label is on and dry it is time to put on the lids of the jars. I
like to make the lids in 2 pieces, it is just easier to make them
look good that way. The first piece was the round piece just a bit
bigger that the top of the wood shape. Then cover the edge with a
strip of matching paper. My strips were about ¼” by long enough to
go around and overlap a bit. Take your time with the gluing and it
will look great.
So
that is how easy it is to make jars of jam for the dolls. I may have
to go back and get more wood pieces and make more flavors though.....
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