Hydro Dipping

For this project we decided to hydro dip mason jars and make them into flower vases. The process of hydro dipping uses hydro(water) and paint filament to coat any type of material that has a base coat.

In this process we concluded that you should:

• Invest in Rusto Gloss Paint (or another higher quality paint)
  
  • Cheaper spray paint will separate and will not blend with the base coat
• Avoid spraying on concrete on school property

Hydro dipping works because when the spray paint is on the water, it does not mix, so when you submerge the object, the paint sticks to the base coat providing a water proof sealant on the outside of the object.

In this Instructable we will share step-by-step instructions on how to hydro dip a Mason Jar, selecting the flowers to put inside along with tips to achieve your overall desired look.

Materials

1. Jar to be hydro dipped (we used a quart sized Mason Jar)
2. 3 colors of spray paint
3. Bucket that is deep enough to dip the whole object in (for this we used a 5-gallon bucket)
4. Water (we retrieved ours from the hose in the ag shop)
5. A stirring utensil to mix the paint together (a flathead screwdriver works perfectly)
6. Disposable Gloves (latex work great)
7. Wire cutters
8. Flowers (real or artificial: we used artificial for this demonstration)

As stated in the materials list, three different colors of paint will be used on the object. The lightest color (in our case the white) will be your base coat.

Be sure to avoid any fingerprints for a smooth finish, and avoid spraying the concrete at school to keep everyone happy in the process.

After a full base coat is applied, it will take about 24 hours for the paint to dry.

Before beinning, check to make sure your jar is completely dry.

Fill the 5 gallon bucket about 3/4 to 4/5 full of water.

Add the two other colors of spray paint in alternating times. Notice that each time you spray it on the water, it migrates to the outside.

Continue to spray the two colors in rotation until you reach the desired amount of paint.

Once you stop spraying, the paint will over the whole surface of the water.

When the whole water surface is covered, use your stiring tool to mix the two colors together.

After the paint is prepped, put on the gloves and grab the jar (use the pads of your fingers to hold the jar around the opening to ensure the most coverage of the paint).

Slowly dip the jar into the paint.

• To have more swirl, go in at an angle and move the jar around as the paint is being applied
• To have a basic look, dip the jar straight down

For the both the red and the blue jars we dipped it for a more swirled look.

Slowly remove the jar from the water. As seen in the picture, all of the paint stuck to the base coat.

After removing the jar, let the excess water drip off of the jar.

We then ran cold water over the jar to seal the paint and remove any unnecessary paint.

1. Pick out the flowers you want.
   • For the red vase it was hard to match flowers, so we went with the basic white flowers.
   • For the blue vase I found a pink color to compliment the different shades of blue.
   • We went to the local craft store and picked out fake flowers for this, but you could also use real flowers.
   • For every person the amount of flowers varries, but I chose enough to make them look just full enough.
2. Size the flowers
   • The flowers purchased were too tall for the vases and looked very unproportional.
   • Using wire cutters, I cut about two inches off of the flowers to ehance the proportions.
3. Trim the Leaves
   • The flowers I bought had an excess amount of leaves on them, so to tone down the green color I trimmed a few of the leaves off.

Once you are done with the development of the vases, it's time to display your project.

Based on the color choices and space availability, I put the red and black vase as a decoration in the bathroom at my house, and I put the blue vase as an added decoration to my desk in my room.

The third green vase was also made later and is a decoration on a table in the living room.

Once you have practice under your belt, the process of hydro dipping can be applied to any type of material.

Shown above are various projects we completed through hydro dipping.

Good luck and we hope you enjoy!