DIY Glimmer Mist

OK, I know it hasn't been even 24 hours since my last post, but, the pain is keeping me awake, so here I am. Previously I talked about how most of my crafting supplies are made by me or are quite old, so how about a little tip or two or 10 on glimmer mist. Glimmer mist can cost a pretty penny to someone who doesn't have extra money to spend. So, I took to the Internet and YouTube to see if I could make my own. Low and behold, there are umpteen million different ways to make glimmer mist.

A lot of them have ingredients that are in and of themselves expensive. But there are some things that all had in common: Alcohol, some sort of ink or paint, and something that shimmers, and some sort of setting agent. The first one I tried to make, actually turned out really well. I used about a teaspoon of folk art metallic blue topaz acrylic paint and water. Mixed it up in an empty spray bottle from bath and body works and gave it a try (see picture). I used hairspray for the fixing medium as  I had seen it done on a few of the YouTube videos.

AS the blue topaz was the only metallic paint I had, I went about finding other ways to make mists. I knew I needed something like paint or ink and something to make it "shimmer."  So, I talked to an art teacher friend of mine who suggested I use dried up markers. She said that she takes the "ink" out of the markers and puts it in water and uses it for water colors. Awesome, but what about shimmer.  Somewhere, either on the Internet or on YouTube, I saw someone use eyeshadow, but I wasn't about to use my good makeup on my crafting, so off to the dollar store I went. I found LA Colors Shimmering Loose Eye shadow. It was perfect. This is what markers and eyeshadow make.....

Picture doesn't do it justice, it is very shimmery. There is no amount specific to each. I just kind of mixed them until I like the effect.

The next one was blue food coloring using alcohol, hairspray, and eye shadow.

But, I must say that my favorite one is the one I call "Tea." I call it this because I made it by bringing a small amount of alcohol to a boil. It doesn't take long at all in the microwave, less than 30 seconds. I then put a Lipton tea bag in the boiling alcohol (it really doesn't smell good) and let it sit until it made a strong looking tea. I then added the hairspray and eye shadow.

It gives a nice aged look. The next picture is a rose I made out of phonebook pages and misted with the tea mist.

It is heavily misted therefore darker than just a normal mist, but I think it's pretty cool.

I used spray bottles I found at Wal-Mart and Meijer for $1/bottle. They are in the travel sized section.

I haven't tried to use sharpies. But because they are permanent marker, I'm not sure they will work. Besides, sharpies are a bit pricey as far as I'm concerned and I also use them to ink the edges of some of my projects. 

Let me know if you have any other suggestions or questions.

Miranda