I love candles. Aromatherapy from scented candles housed in glass jars creates a sense of peace and calm in my apartment. But when the wick burns down to the bottom of the jar, I always struggle to find a new purpose for the glass jar rather than throwing it away. Until the other day when I discovered I didn’t have a pot for the plant I was about to re-pot, I’d been recycling the glass jars to serve as storage bins for cotton balls, rubber bands, loose batteries in my junk drawer, vessels for rooting plant cuttings, and pens, pencils and markers in the taller jars. Now I realized the glass jars would be perfect for new cuttings from my numerous pothos plants.

If you’ve never owned a pothos plant and you need a visually appealing plant that you can nearly kill and still resuscitate, pothos is the plant for you. They are extremely durable, able to withstand various household temperatures, and forgetful watering from their hosts.

And because of their durability, the pothos is the idea foliage plant to make its home in a glass jar. Lack of drainage might be a deciding factor in choosing a glass jar as home to many plants, such as the peace lily, where thorough watering and appropriate drainage is one of the keys to a well-growing plant.

So! Here we go!

Prepare your jar

It’ll likely be necessary to clean the remainder of wax out of the jar. Fill a regular pot with just enough water to allow the glass candle jar to sit in the water without submerging it. Allow water to boil on top of stove until the wax is melted. Grab an oven mitt or use a towel – GLASS IS HOT! – to pick up jar. I always keep paper plates – a Nana’s peace-keeper – so, working quickly,  I pour the liquid wax onto a paper plate before it cools off. (Paper towels layered on top of foil lining a bowl makes a good place to dump liquid wax) And then take paper towels and clean out the rest of the wax before it hardens.

Hot glue guns and gold ribbon

This has been my hot-glue-gun-year. 🙂 I’ve found more uses for pulling out that gun. I

keep all kinds of art supplies so that I’m ready when I get ready to create, and especially when my grands come over. Liquid glue might work to glue decorations on the outside of a glass jar. But hot glue dries much faster, ensuring that you won’t need to hold your finger on a decoration to make sure it’s dry.

Your choice of decorations for the glass jar widens when you use a glue gun. Buttons, jeweled pieces – anything with a flat back will glue well and stay put on your glass jar. For this jar, I started with a gold mesh material, and then a gold rope.Then I wanted a bit more contrast so I picked a zig-zag gold ribbon, gluing first at the bottom of the jar, then up near the top to make a point, then down again, in a triangle shape.

The last thing I did was add a border top and bottom, and …

 

VOILE!!

Note:(The soil should never sit in water. Water sparingly.)