Friday, March 16, 2012

I do not believe in Fairies

Quick...start clapping your hands! Louder!

Anyway....

I saw this pin and I have to admit...I was skeptical from the beginning:

The Original Pin
http://organisedchaoswahm.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/fairies-in-a-jar/ 

I followed the directions and this is what I got:

The Pinstrosity

No pretty sparkles, no fun colors, no floating look. It looks like some glow in the dark creature sneezed. With the lights on, it just looked like a jar with weird yellowish stuff in it. Poor dead fairies.

Has anyone had success with this project? If it is possible, we'd love to hear some feedback on how to make it work.

                                                                                               

42 comments:

  1. Pretty sure the original picture is photoshopped.

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    1. That was my first thought too, actually. But I thought it was worth a shot just to test it out.

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  2. I've seen a similar pin floating around in which the instructions below the pin say to break open a glow stick into a jar and shake...which looks like what you've done. BUT if you click on the pin and go to the original link (in the similar one that I've seen floating around), the OP actually dots different color glow paint inside a jar let's it dry then sticks it under a light for a while before viewing. Sorry I don't have a link, once I saw how meticulous she had to be, I passed on pinning it. Good luck! (I agree with you guys though, that picture is definitely photoshopped.)

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    1. i think you meant this: http://www.frompankawithlove.com/2012/01/glowing-jar-project-varazslat-lakasban.html

      it's really pretty, but a lot of work. she says the big jar took her around 6 hours to paint.

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  3. Yup, tried this for daughters tinker bell birthday and no dice, it looked like glowing goo in a mason jar. The only think I can think of is using super fine glitter, and like previous said, letting the glow goo dry out a little first?

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  4. Tried it and got the same results as you.

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  5. The comment "poor dead fairies" had me laughing for the longest. Looks like Ogre snot.

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  6. My babysitter tried this with my girls and had the same results. A big mess!

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  7. Ooh Ogre snot! I do a Witch's apothecary display for Halloween every year and this would be awesome for that.

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  8. I am a teacher and we did this craft or our Reading Under the Stars family reading night. We called them fireflies though, not fairies. It worked and they were adorable in the dark! It didn't look like the pin you are showing though. I can't imagine WHAT would look like that.

    We were doing this activity with aprox. 500 students so we went cheap, cheap, and cheaper. We used clear tumblers with lids from a party store instead of jars, mini glow sticks (the kind we used to put in our mouths to make our teeth glow as kids), and glitter. We let the kids pick a couple colors of glow sticks and only used about half of each. We shook it in the cup, then added a few sprinkles of glitter. They we turned the lights out and let them be amazed. It actually worked better than I thought. I was truly expecting your pinstrosity. :P

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  9. I tried it, several times, and the best I got was this:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/anakiwa_forever/6840111256/
    I dont know anyone who has managed to get it to work properly!

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    1. Looks like we got pretty similar results. Bummer.

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  10. People, the original photo is photoshopped!!

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  11. To get something more like the original jar, i'd try the "timeout jars" with hot water, a bottle of glitter glue and a bottle of superfine glitter. I ALMOST made one today then chickened out.

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  12. I did this and while it didn't turn out like the original post, it did work and was really pretty. The 4 year old I did it with loved it and I got a really neat picture of him, profile, looking at the jar

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    1. Would really love to see the result - do you have a pic? :)

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  13. yea, I did this and it looked even worse than yours and only glowed a couple minutes

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  14. The original photo looks photoshopped for sure! I saw it on pinterest awhile back and was like yeahh that's not real!!
    I have made a "mind jar" though with glue and glitter, etc. It's not as spectacular but it works ;)

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  15. Did anyone use the diamond dust instead of glitter??? I was thinking of doing this for my niece's birthday this weekend and I am thinking I won't now!

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  16. Warning! Shameless self promotion. If you want to make a realistic dead fairy, I have some pictures and how-to's on my blog here http://gaslightandgilt.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-dr-cruppers-collection.html

    Yes, I think the original image is enhanced with Photoshop and careful staging. I suppose the reason we're all reacting this way is because we really want it to work! I mean, how cool would it be if it did?

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    1. That's morbidly awesome. Way to go on your "dead fairy", I like it.

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    2. Thank you so much!

      I've added a tutorial for a mummified fairy, just in case someone wants their fairy wrapped to go.

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  17. I _knew_ that darn jar looked too good to be true!

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  18. Here's the link referenced in the pin, and even the pin recommends using diamond dust, NOT glitter.

    http://squishideasforpreschool.blogspot.com/search?q=jar

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    1. Thank you for the extra link. Both your link and the one we posted give instructions to use glitter actually, but it is our link that instructs the use of diamond glitter (which can be found at craft stores or ordered online from amazon and other sites).

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  19. I'm thinking this would work better if you glittered the inside of the jar let it dry, then later used led lights

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  20. I see that UV LEDs are now available, so it might be possible to make something more complex involving fluorescent objects floating in a jar with UV light hidden in the lid. I wonder if there are jars which block UV light.

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  21. I'm thinking maybe use a snowglobe kind of idea: broken glow stick combined with water. Add glitter and shake? I'll have to try it and see if it works.

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  22. Me and my friend tried this as well...we shook the jars really hard for about a minute and added A LOT of glitter. They look really cool (not like the first picture) But there was no dripping effect. We mixed different colors, it turned out awesome. Then about 5 minutes later we just had non glowing glitter jars...

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  23. I followed this pin all the way back to some Russian town on the far edge of the world. It was also posted in that language. The original creator of the glow jar took several days to create her jar using glow paint. She painted each and every tiny speck seperately, by hand, with three different colors. All materials are available in the U.S. My daughter and I tried about a dozen "glowstick and Mason jar" recipes. None were worth the bother.

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  24. I found this tutorial and thought that it would help. Placing white tulle inside will help with a more floating effect :)

    http://thegoldjellybean.com/2012/06/making-glow-jars.html

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  25. I thought this was filled with water then extra fine glitter was put inside....hence the swirling and the prettiness of it

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  26. I tried this when I was trying to stay up on New Year's Eve. I got a nasty smelling green glitter goo.

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  27. I made this one work! Cheaply! Still does not look like the pictures though.
    Option 1
    Use a spray glitter (or paint on Elmer's &glitter) to paint the jar. I liked the outside better than inside.
    Let dry.
    Now, get a pretty huge wad (yup, wad it up bunch it, make it crinkly) of paper towels. The idea is to have the jar stuffed pretty full. You can try to glitter the paper towels, I had no luck. Once it's full, you can empty a glowstick (or more depending on size) into jar. Cover and shake until more of the paper is saturated. I tried splatter painting paper and the putting it in jar. Little difference in appearance.

    Opinion 2
    White craft paint, gesso, or other pastel color you like. I Strongly urge you to stick with white though.
    Apply paint to jar's exterior. I liked a fan brush and making a "snowy night" effect on the jar. Do a light layer all over. No perfection no right or wrong. Now...for this... I suggest baby food jars&make a bunch of them.
    Anyhow, once it's dry...again stuff with paper towel (toilet paper&tissues get sloppy. Cotton balls are creepy. Could try old pair of white tights/nylons maybe?)
    Add glowstick and enjoy....

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  28. The more you spread out the activated glowstick fluid and expose it to air, the faster it will exhaust the chemical reaction. I vaguely remember that some liquid dish soaps will fluoresce under UV. I wonder how well it would work to use dish soap and glitter and set it near/under/on or incorporate a UV source? Perhaps one could combine swirls of dish soap with swirls of mineral oil, each with glitter added...

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  29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeFsWbvixw0

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  30. I tried a jar of tonic water and glitter, and a black light. Fantastic.
    Going to try the glow sticks in water in a jar thing.

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  31. Look it up on you tube. People have done this project and have had success. It seems to me you have to add several glow sticks to a jar to make a good amount of liquid in the jar and then add ALOT of glitter.

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  32. So I've been thinking about the painting method, and was wondering what you all think of using a cut screen inside the jar and splattering the glow in the dark paint. Using a screen and running a brush with just a bit of paint on it is a great way to speckle on a canvas, why not in a jar, then let it dry and charge it in the sun. I'm going to try it.

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  33. What about using glow in the dark glitter when following the 'mind jar' instructions?

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  34. You need glitter. One said diamond glitter? But glitter is the key.

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  35. Glitter is the key. I read something about "diamond glitter" but that's what makes it glittery.

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