best paint for jars??

deely

I have a lot of nice Yankee Candle and coffee jars I want to decorate for Halloween, Christmas and general use and wondered what is the best paint / spray to use (and value for money)?
I have painted a few with acrylic paint so far and although they are OK they took about 6 coats to cover and I also seem to have some 'lumps' even tho' the paint seemed to go on well and the brushes were clean.
thanks in advance!

Katiehound

Probably not in the "cheap" category but Pebeo make glass paints- Vitrail which you use with a cerne relief outliner to create "stained glass." The Cerne relief comes in black, gold or silver.
There may be other makes available

I have painted glass jars in the past to use as lamp bases and vases. I painted them outside with oil based satin finish paint and sponged toning colours of emulsion to create a mottled effect.

You can also paint inside the jars, swirl the paint around and then tip out. Think this would work with emulsion

deely

Thank you. I might try the emulsion on the inside using some sample pots then and see how that goes first before buying glass paints.
I did wonder about Gesso - would that help to reduce the number of coats?

glynisrose

Use enamel paint, it gives a good coverage and is heavily enough pigmented to reduce the amount of coats you need.

Katiehound

Glass paints will give you a whole different finish as they are transparent.

Please note I have altered my original post- realised that I had painted the outside!! (It was many years ago!)

Surely gesso is adding texture?

deely

I was thinking Gesso might be a primer so I wouldn't need as many coats to get it to cover?? Maybe won't waste money getting that!
thanks for all the other info, will have to experiment a little.

dizzytina

Try using a spray paint. You will get a more smoother coverage. You can get specific ones for glass though most should be suitable. Another idea is to decoupage the jars rather than paint them. Ive done this before and the results look pretty cool.