★ DIY Vases | Craft Tutorials For Making Your Own Vase ★
Create Flower Displays For Your Home
Vases exist in nearly every home and are a fantastic and easy way to add life and personality to your space.
On this page you will find the best tutorials on the web for making your own vases, often from household objects such as bottles and jars, and there are plenty of how-tos for simply decorating containers too. Most of the vases are completely different to what can be shop-bought, so you can own something unique as well as something cheaper...yay!
I hope you find these ideas inspiring :-)
DIY Jam Jar Vases
Click here to see how these vases were made.
Photo by The Green Gal.
An Introduction
Options For Making Vases
Vases are a decorative item found in almost every home, so why not make your own? - especially because it will save you money and you can match your homemade vases exactly to your color schemes at home, and also make them unique and personal to you. Even if you're not big on crafts or you don't have much spare time, there are so many ideas on this page for quick, easy and creative projects that you're bound to find something you want to try!
There are different ways of making a vase:
- Making it from scratch: Although making from scratch is often not practical unless you have access to a welder/ceramics kiln/glass blowing workshop (!), a couple of materials you can use to build vases out of (by molding them yourself) are concrete/cement and resin. You can also use other materials like wood or plaster - however the main requirement of a vase is that it's waterproof so you will have to line any porous material like this so that it holds water.
- Embellishing an existing vase: Painting freehand or with stencils is a popular method, as is changing the color of a clear vase by pouring paint inside and swirling it around to give the inside a coating of paint. Etching is another method where you can add any design you like to a clear glass vase with etching cream, and this will making a permanent 'frosted' image on the glass. You can also glue anything to a vase to change the look of it, including wrapping things around the outside (like fabric, ribbons, yarn, rope, knitting), or attaching artistic mosaic, decoupage or clay embellishments.
- Repurposing: All kinds of items can be recycled into a vase, as long as they are some kind of container and are made from a type of material that can hold water. Common materials to use are glass, plastic, ceramic and stainless steel, and some examples of products you can re-use include:
- Glass Jars: Mason jars and jam jars are a good choice as the basis of a vase.
- Plastic Packaging: Pots and containers
- Metal: Tins
- Bottles: Wine bottles, pop bottles
- Ceramic/Porcelain: Such as teapots and teacups
- More obscure choices like PVC/metal pipes, lightbulbs, glass scientific equipment (beakers and test tubes), gumboots and cocktail shakers.
Have fun!
Pretty Vases To Buy
If you don't have spare time - or the inclination - to make your own, then there are some beautiful vases available like these. Or you could buy a basic plain vase with the intention of embellishing it yourself at home.
Creative Vases to Make
- Lightbulb Vase
A great way to recycle old bulbs. - Birch Log
Bring nature into your home with this DIY. - Eggshell Mosaic
Interesting and unusual decoration technique. - Cork Containers
Make vases from just tin cans and cork. - Spoon Artichoke
Creative use of plastic spoons. - Polymer Clay Florals
Pretty clay flowers on painted clear glass vases. - Milk Bottle Vases
Use primer to make glass look like porcelain. - Dice Cup Vase Trio
A trio of vases clamped to a tree trunk slice. - Faux Bois Vases
Use silicone to draw a wood grain effect on your minimalist vases. - Ombre Painted Bottles
A collection of bottles looks great painted in shades of one color.
Concrete Pots
Click here for instructions on making your own trendy concrete pots.
Photo and planter by Home Beautiful.
Hanging Test Tube Vases
Pretty Vase Projects
- Teapot Arrangement
How to arrange a flower display in a teapot. - Cocktail Shakers & Coffee Tins
How to arrange flowers in these cool looking containers. - Self Watering Vase
Not pretty but it is a good recycling project with no fuss. - Recycled Plastic Bottle
All you need is a bottle and scissors for this free vase. - Plastered Jars
Interesting idea using old sweaters and plaster of Paris. - Silver Leaf Vase
Designed to look like Mercury glass. - Painted Bottles
I love the rainbow of colours used. - Colored Mason Jars
Transform glass jars using food coloring. - Framed Vases
No tutorial, but it's an interesting idea for a DIY.
Mosaic Vase
Learn the art of mosaic making and you can make vases as cool as this one!
Vase Tutorial Roundup
- Test Tube Vase
Sleek and modern holders for single flowers. - Wine Bottle Vases
Stylish way to display flowers on the wall. - Paint Swirl Vases
A fun paint technique that creates a lovely effect. - Lightbulb Hanging Vases
A few of these grouped together make a real statement. - Beautiful Decorative Vases
Gorgeous decorations to hang up at parties and weddings especially. - Hanging Test Tubes
Elegant and a perfect solution if you lack table space. - PVC Pipes
A novelty idea that reminds me of Super Mario Bros.! - Faux Foam Vases
Use foam core to create different silhouettes.
Concrete & Lightbulb Vase
Decorating with Masking Tape
Click here for details on decorating bottles and jugs with tape.
Photo by How About Orange.
Decorative Vase How-Tos
- Argyle Sock Vases
I love this super simple idea. - Yarn Wrapped Vases
I like the stripe accent on the example. - Mason Jars
With wire sections for hanging up. - Enamel Bottles
Transform bottles with enamel paint. - Epsom Salt Bottles
Textured wine bottles, perfect for christmas. - Twig Vase
Easy to make from natural materials. - Chalkboard Vases
A nice use for the popular paint. - Spray Painted Jars
Mask off a design first with stickers. - Test Tube Flower Display
Hang flower and leaf cuttings from the ceiling with this creative display.
Etched Bottles
Click here to see how you can etch your own bottles.
Photo by Amanda Siska.
Vase Decoration Ideas
- Copper Beaker
Scientific glassware can provides some cool shapes. - Tiny Framed Vases
This display of little hanging vases really looks fantastic. - Unusual Recycled Bottle Vase
Very interesting technique using recycled materials. - Paint Brush Vase
Cool vase idea for a creative type. - Recycled Valentine Vases
Recycle old clear bottles into heart art. - DIY White Bottles
Classy vases made very easily from clear glass bottles. - Thermos Flasks
Fun idea for repurposing vintage flasks. - Recycled Lampshades
Simple way to re-use old glass shades. - Clay Petal Vase
How to sculpt a clay flower to add to a plain vase.
Decoupage Vases
Layers of paper have been decoupaged onto vases, then varnished.
Paper Mache Wall Vases
DIY Vases to Create
- Field of Flowers
Gorgeous floral arrangment on the vase itself. - Salt & Pepper Shaker Jars
Turn shaker jars into mini vases by grouping them with wire. - Shadow Box Wall Vases
Cool box vases for making a wall display. - Vivified Vases
Cover your containers in slices of tree branch. - Sweater Vases
Recycle an old sweater into vase covers. - Stacked Vases
Create an eye-catching centrepiece by stacking bud vases together. - Reading Book Vase
Make an old or damaged book into an attractive decoration. - Plastic Bag Vases
Use a heat gun to mould plastic bags around a container - but beware the fumes! - Etched Glass Vase
How to create an intricate etched design.
Wellington Boots
More Vases For Your Home
- Sculptural Copper Coils
Sculpt flexible copper tubing to make artistic vases. - Jute Twine DIY
Wrap a vase in natural colored twine. - Styrofoam Mosaic Tiles
Cut foam tiles using a hotwire and then attach them to tin cans. - Dipped Ceramic Pots
Modern and trendy paint dripping effect. - Font Vase
Simply attach a random selection of letter stickers to a clear vase. - Striped Glass
Use window colour paint to add colourful stripes to glass. - CMYK Splatter Painting
It's so simple to make this artistic embellishment. - Creative Vase Gallery
Photos of unusual vase designs to inspire you. - Woodgrain Bottles
Use gold paint to create a wood look on wine bottles. - Braided Rope Vases
How to weave and braid nautical-style vases.
3-Tier Flower Tower
This lovely centrepiece has been made by drilling through 3 teacups and saucers and then stacking them on a metal rod.
Further Ideas & Inspiration
- Pebbles Pringle Tube
Mosaic and grout the outside of the tube to make an attractive vase. - Plastic Animal Bud Vases
Quirky, colorful and awesome! - Copper Tubes & Clay
With cut-out designs of your choice. - Test Tube Rack
Clever re-using of an old test tube rack for elegant decoration. - Fun Textured Vases
Make patterns with just thin foam.
DIY Vase Videos
Please Leave a Comment!
anonymous on September 17, 2013:
visit as visit I appreciate you.
Leila from Belgium on February 11, 2013:
These vases look lovely, specially the 3 tier one with roses!
The one with decoupage is also very pretty :-)
MariaB LM on February 10, 2013:
The vase with the purple flowers on it are beautiful.
mrdata on December 07, 2012:
Wow! Amazing ideas here! I love the light bulb vase. I've never thought about it. Congrats for your lens! Happy Holidays and big success!
Judith Nazarewicz from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on November 04, 2012:
Beautiful ideas!
anonymous on April 02, 2012:
Very nice DIY ideas for home decoration and handmade gifts.
acreativethinker on April 01, 2012:
These are just lovely, really great ideas. Thanks for sharing. :)
SquidooRocks55 on March 28, 2012:
Studentz - You've got all this great information! Great lens!
ara-bella on March 09, 2012:
Your work is beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Renaissance Woman from Colorado on February 12, 2012:
Love the Wellington boots as flower pot or vase. The light bulb and test tube vases appeal to me also. Thanks for stimulating my creative impulses. Always appreciated.
Pam Irie from Land of Aloha on September 27, 2011:
Oodles of great ideas for DIY vases here! I made one of those small concrete pots for succulents this summer, but hopefully my second attempt will turn out better. ha
dahlia369 on August 27, 2011:
Cute collection of ideas - something I do almost every day with the flowers that grow in my front yard. My favorite vases are unusually shaped bottles.
