These vibrant Halloween luminaries, made from painted mason jars, will light up any sidewalk or window this Halloween! Additionally, these luminaries make an elegant addition to a Pumpkin Painting Party!
Why We Love This Project
Halloween luminaries are an enjoyable way to adorn any sidewalk, mantle or bookshelf for Halloween! As an adaptable craft you can use whatever colors you prefer while the best part is how easy they are to make yourself! Gather friends or the kids for a craft night focused around Halloween decor and enjoy crafting something fun together!
Back in 2009 I made these Halloween Painted Jar Luminaries and they quickly became one of the most popular Halloween crafts on this site. So after nine years had passed I decided to recreate these lights again with updated photographs as well as creating a video tutorial!
It’s not the first time I’ve created Halloween luminaries; several years ago I made painted Ghost Luminaries, decoupaged Jack O’Lantern Luminaries, and Skull Luminaries.
Over the summer I purchased two boxes of canning jars with the intention of canning, but when that didn’t pan out I opened one up, went inside, grabbed my acrylic craft paints, paint brushes and water dish and began working away!
How To Create Halloween Luminaries Get Full Printable Instructions at the Bottom of This Post.
Prep your pint jars by washing them with soapy water, making sure there is no residual soap residue left behind. Give them an additional rinse with rubbing alcohol before leaving them to air dry.
Once your jars have set, be sure to ensure your fingers are clean so as to not transfer any oil from your skin onto the glass which could prevent its adhesion of paint.
Use a flat paintbrush to apply one layer of acrylic craft paint on the outside of each jar with acrylic craft paint, leaving enough for candle light to come through! I used a Sharpie marker to sketch on faces before simply painting over their features with black paint using a liner brush.
I painted the jar rims black using black paint. Once dry, let dry for around half an hour before spraying with glaze in two coats waiting 20 minutes between coats; allow drying time between each application of glaze. Let set for several hours to fully set before using them!
Once your luminaries have dried for several hours, have some fun displaying them! I like using regular tea lights inside glass jars with long-handled lighters to illuminate my displays.