A Fairy captured in a Fairy Jar

 

When you capture a Fairy, you capture a moment in time.  For you don’t actually capture the Fairy herself (or himself), what you’re actually catching is a fairy shadow.  You see … a Fairy moves far too quickly to be caught in a jar, for no sooner have you got her inside the jar, than she’s popped out before you’ve even managed to even think about putting the lid on!

And back in the room again … (smiling here) ….  Well I said that I’d like to make another Fairy in a Jar, and so I did.  Only this time I remembered (mostly) to take photographs of each step as I did it, so that means this post is a little photo heavy, so because of that I’ll try to keep the talking to a minimum and just give you the point by point things which will explain what you’re looking at or need to know if you’re going to make a Fairy Jar yourself.  Get ready… here we go….

I found a lovely new jar in Mr. Cobs shed which  I swiftly took ownership of before he noticed it was gone,  he kindly donated (cough) and I decided that this would make a fabulous fairy jar.  I assembled everything which I’d need and began.

In the beginning  …. the was a jar.  A nice, clean, unused jar waiting to be loved.

Add grass (of the card kind) using glue to stick it in place … only …  this is where I found I’d run into a problem.  I couldn’t get my hand into the jar.  This is a very important point:   MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET YOUR HAND INTO YOUR JAR BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

• If you’ve found a jar which is narrow necked and too long for you to reach the bottom using your fingers, or tweezers … then may I suggest that you buy some extra long tweezers before you begin.  You can find them in .. Pet stores (particularly ones which sell Lizards or food for Lizards).  Or you can find them on Ebay, or at some Kitchen/Cake making supply stores.

 

I didn’t have extra long tweezers at the time I was making this Fairy Jar,  so I did my best with what I had.  (And made an unholy mess too! – see inside the jar!)

Because this particular jar wasn’t straight sided down to the bottom it meant that there was a gap between the bottom of the ‘grass’ and the base of the jar (which would have let the light shine out and it would have looked odd) .. I remedied this by twisting a little bit of black tissue paper and glueing it in place.  Again … a mess happened, but I used glue which dries clear so I knew that it wouldn’t be seen once dried.

While the glue dried, I turned my attention to the lid ….

I didn’t want a shiny gold lid,  but wanted something which looked old and almost creaky, so wanted to ‘rust up’ the jar lid. I used a tried and trusted method, using Rust-it, made by Pinflair which always gives great results.  One coat works well, but two coats really takes it to town!  (And each coat dries really quickly – so you’re not hanging about all day for it to dry.)

Two coats of Rust-It, and it looks like I found it in a good old-fashioned English, secret, walled garden. Perfect!

Although it was now lovely and old-looking, I wanted to give it a little something to make it more special….

Glitter Paste by Pinflair, in Aqua and Copper.  The paste looks thick when you open the lid but it’s a lot more ‘fluid’ when you start to use it.  It spreads very easily, so apply a little at a time as it goes a long way.

I missed taking a couple of photographs at this point as I got carried away with myself … so I’ll have to catch you up with words … 

By this time you should have chosen your fairy and are ready to add her to your Fairy Jar.  Simply choose the position you want her in and then using an instant fix glue (we call it Super Glue here in the UK.  It bonds in seconds and can be used on paper and glass amongst other things).  This will hold your Fairy in place.

Once you’re happy that she’s not going anywhere …   you’re ready to adhere some tissue paper to the outside of your jar.  You can simply use PVA glue for this, and just one sheet of tissue paper. (one sheet thick – if you need more tissue to go around your jar, obviously use more.  But only one sheet thickness).

Spread PVA over part of your jar,  (make it a full bottom to top section, but not covering the screw part where the lid fits, obviously) then lay the sticky part down on your sheet of tissue paper, lifting it up straight away, otherwise the glue will quickly make the tissue tacky and it will stick to your work surface. eeeek!

Do this all over your jar, in sections at a time, until you’ve covered the whole of the jar.  Allow it to dry.  (Give it about an hour).  Then you can begin decorating the outside.

Add some magic to the outside of your jar using glitters and anything else you feel will give you the result you want.  Here you can see that I’ve used a mixture of Pinflair Ice Diamond – which is really chunky type glitter – but it’s not twinkly like normal glitter.  It’s got a fabulous magical feel to it.  I also added just a tiny bit of Pinflair Snow Dust – just to give the outside a sort of crisp look.

For this jar I tied string around the neck,  however you can use ribbons, straw, or anything which gives you the look you’re after. (On the previous Fairy Jar I made, I used a hessian ribbon – which I loved. You can find that jar on the Cobweborium blog).

Then …  add your flowers … or anything else you’d like to have on your Fairy Jar.  You can personalise it in a gazillion ways.  Whatever takes it in the direction you want it to go!

There are many things you could add to your Fairy Jar.  Here, on this, (2nd) Fairy Jar, I’ve added a ‘Key to the Land of the Fae’, and a tiny vial of ‘Fairy Dust’, which has been corked and then sealed with pink wax.

The Key to the Land of the Fae, and a glass vial of Fairy Dust.

One side of the Fairy Jar ….

The other side of the Fairy Jar …  but … this jar has a secret ….  and it’s on the back …

Hidden within the jar isn’t just a Fairy, but it also hides a Fairy Wishing Tree!  On the outside of the back of the jar, I added some nature, some nurture and some love.

Time to add a little magic.  Shall we?

 

The inner light, although magical looking, is made by T.Lights.  BATTERY operated T. Lights.  Please, please don’t use real candles.  Paper, card and candles don’t mix well.  Only ever use battery operated T.Lights inside Fairy Jars.

The Fairy Wishing Tree, lit from within.

The side of the Fairy Jar …  but do you see what I see?  There is one light at the base ….  and another light half way up the jar.  How can that be?  Is it floating?  Is it … MAGIC?

If you’re making a Fairy Jar for yourself,  you’ll find that it’s best to use smaller fairies as the lights from your T.lights will only shine and flicker at the base of your jar.  However, I wanted to use a larger fairy,  so had to figure out a way to let a light shine further up the jar.  I could have bought some of those short lengths of craft lights – a little like Christmas Tree Fairy Lights – only made for crafters and operated by battery,  but I wanted that warm glow that you get from a candle so … I found a way of making that happen. ….

I made a little gizmo out of Florist’s Wire, which I loosely wrapped around the ‘flame’ of the lower candle and then supported another candle which kind of hovered about it.  I’ve taken more photos from other angles so that you could see how this wire frame works…

Make sure, if you make one of these, that you bend the end of the wire at the top so that you don’t put your hand inside the jar and get stabbed by it.  It would be jolly painful!  So bend it over and make a sort of handle so that you can easily lift it out of the jar to turn the candles on/off.

Photo taken from ‘underneath’  showing how the wire is bent under the upper T.Light,  to support it.  Then shaped around the outside of the T.Light and over the top, and around the ‘flame’ to anchor it.

Photo taken from over the top of both of the candles.  You can see that the candles pretty much line up, and also how the wire extends over the top of the candle and wraps gently around the flame to just keep the wire in place.

This wire support isn’t made of stiff wire, but it’s ‘bendable’ wire,  so take a little care when using it.  But if you knock it out of shape when you’re turning the T.Lights off and on, then you can easily just fiddle with it to make it stand up again.  Once you get used to the way it needs to be bent, you’ll get the hang of it.

I loved making this Fairy Jar and particularly loved the little roses I chose.  They were exactly the shade I was thinking of in my mind, and as if by magic … there they were!

Well that’s me done and dusted.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend, and that your week ahead turns out to be a happy one without too many problems or struggles, and that any problems you come across aren’t anything which you can’t handle.

Thank you SO much for coming and sharing some time with me.  I so enjoy your company.  Please feel welcome to leave a few words via a comment, and I promise to reply.  I love your comments as it gets us all chatting to each other, and other people reading get a feel for what you’re like and will want to come and visit your blog too.  It makes blogging world go around so well!

If there’s anything which I’ve forgotten to mention and you’d like to ask about, please ask away.  I’m more than happy to help if I can.

Well all that’s left for me to say is … Have a  truly Blessed rest of your day!

Sending crafty hugs  . . .