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Create Element Jars Necklaces for Nerdy Friends (LIKE ME)

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Create an Element Jar Necklace, which shares the sun, moon, earth and star and turn it into mini necklaces you can hand out to your friends. Super cool, super fun, and super unique craft tutorial. You may be on this post because you visited my Nebula Jars, Constellation Jars, or Galaxy Jars and are looking for a new project.

If so, these Element Jars gonna rock your world! To be honest, there are so many fun crafts when it comes to mason jars, that I’ll be sharing our creations all year long, so do not forget to follow me on Pinterest to keep watch.

Because we love jars so much, I keep a variety of them in the house but recently bought this mini necklace jars for a DIY Love Potion Necklace and had some left over.

So the kids and I went back to the drawing board to create some Element Jars to include the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Earth.

Meanwhile, someone reading my blog emailed and asked me if you can use acrylic paint over tempura and I really didn’t know the answer, so we decided it was a perfect opportunity to test acrylic paints on this project and share the results.

STOP! YOU NEED THESE MINI JARS!

To create these amazing and fun element jars, you will need to grab some tiny vials that have a ring for a chain. I love these with the cork stop because they are totally adorable and work perfectly for this project as well as other fun necklace ideas.

These are not so easy to find in the craft store and since this project, I have spent a great deal of time trying to locate them again. Grab them on amazon so you don’t have to run around all day, trust me!

The ones I bought locally were also nearly $15 and they are half that cost on Amazon.  

There are a variety of sizes for jars and the size you want your necklace is up to you, but I recommend atleast 1.5 inch in height and atleast 1 inch around.

Mini Clear Glass Jars Bottles with CorkMini Clear Glass Jars Bottles with CorkMini Glass Wish Bottles Cork Tops forMini Glass Wish Bottles Cork Tops for

To do this Element Jar project, you will need the following element jar supplies:

  • Pack of Necklace Jars with cork lids –
  • Paint– for the pictures below we used acrylic paints in the colors of the elements we were creating, tempura is fine and runnier
  • Earth– Brown/Green
  • Sun: Yellow, Red, Orange
  • Sky: Blue, White
  • Moon: Black, Silver Glitter
  • You will also need cotton balls. If you are doing the necklace size, you will only need about 2-3 per jar, however, if you are doing LARGE jars, you may need a couple of bags and I’ll explain why below

If you came by this project by way of social media or Pinterest, you can grab the rest of the supplies here and be prepared to come back and do this project! They also make super cute jars for best friends or Valentines day.

There is a reason I suggest buying multi-packs of paint and glitter- there is nothing worse than getting inspired to do a project and not having the right supplies on hand.

Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint Set, 18 Piece (2-Ounce), PROMOABI Best Selling Colors IApple Barrel Acrylic Paint Set, 18 Piece (2-Ounce), PROMOABI Best Selling Colors IKendall/Covidien Prepping Cotton Ball, 500 CountKendall/Covidien Prepping Cotton Ball, 500 CountMartha Stewart Crafts Iridescent Glitter, 12-PackMartha Stewart Crafts Iridescent Glitter, 12-Pack

Element Jar Necklace Instructions

Element Jars Necklaces with red and yellow for sun, black and silver for moon, blue and white for sky, and brown and green for earth.
These are a HUGE hit with my nerdy friends (and myself) because they’re so gorgeous and a bit mystical in their simple way.

These work quite like the Nebula Jars we made, but on a much smaller scale. I wanted to go more into depth about adding the layers.

There are several ways you can go about this. The first thing I should explain is the concept.

The idea of a jar like this and adding cotton is that the cotton pulls in some of the color palette and holds it in place so it doesn’t mix the paint in between, giving it a layered jar look.

How much water you choose to add to the jar can really decide how the paint flows and how much cotton you stuff in can determine if the paint stops or continues up the jar.

You can also guide your paint but putting it in and then using a paintbrush to pull the cotton from the sides and let the bottom paint flow up.

You can accomplish your jars in one of the following ways:

Put water down, stuff the cotton ball, add paint and use a paintbrush to push the cotton ball in areas the paint is, then stuff more cotton, more paint, letting the cotton ball soak up the paint.

With acrylic, it’s a lot thicker and doesn’t flow, so you will need to add water and then move the paint around to absorb.

I use the handle end of the paintbrush to adjust the cotton ball on the inside and push the paint up the sides till I get the look I want.

Paint the cotton ball first and then stuff it inside, add a white cotton ball, then a painted one and so on and so forth till it’s full. Then add water to loosen the paint and use the handle to move the cotton/paint around for your look.

If you over-add water, it will mix the colors just like watercolors and muddy it up.

If this happens, just dump some of the water out and stuff a new cotton ball in and try again.

The larger the jar, the more cushion between colors you will need to keep the paint from bleeding. This really is a fun craft, but it’s also something you take your time on to get the prettiest long-lasting look.

Please look below to see some of the samples of how to create your layered cotton look and closer images of how it absorbs.

Element jars start with clear small glass apothecary jars with cork tops and necklace findings screwed in the top.
You can find these tiny apothecary jars on Amazon or at craft stores like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby.
A cotton ball is ready to be stuffed in a small apothecary jar to absorb orange paint and hold it in place inside the jar.
Use the paintbrush handle tip to push the cotton ball down into the paint so it will absorb it and hold it in place.
The cotton ball is absorbing orange paint and will hold it in place to maintain an unmixed paint look inside the element jar.
The cotton ball soaks up the paint and holds it in place so you can get a layered look instead of the paint colors mixing together.
A tiny apothecary jar has an orange cotton ball and red cotton ball inside, and a yellow one being pushed in the top to represent the colors of the sun.
Orange, yellow, and red represent the colors of the sun in this elements jar necklace.
An element jar necklace representing the sky is filled with blue and white paint.
Sky blue and a little white perfectly represent sky in this element jar.
An element jar necklace representing the moon or night sky is made with silver glitter inside the jar that's covered with black painted cotton balls.
Black paint and silver glitter represent the moon or night sky in a dark-themed element jar necklace.
A finished sun element jar necklace that is orange, red, and yellow with bits of gold glitter.
Here’s a finished sun elements jar necklace. I love the tiny bit of gold glitter to represent the dazzling rays.
A finished moon elements jar necklace features black paint inside with silver glitter at the bottom and top of the jar.
A cool moon and night sky elements jar has all the feels of nighttime star gazing.
An earth elements jar necklace features bright green, dark green, and rusty brown paint inside that represent plants, trees, and earth.
I use two shades of green in the earth elements jar necklace to represent both green plants and deep green forest.
Finished element jar necklaces in different colors displayed on an open hand.
Finished elements jars ready for necklace chains and gifting to my awesome nerdy friends!
Up close photo of finished element jar necklaces, showing the finished cork tops and glitter inside with the bright paint.
You could add glitter to the earth and sky elements jars too if you want to. I personally think pretty much everything is better with glitter.

Love this? Pin it here and share it with friends, plus check out other jars before you go!

Love Potion Necklace Jars  (That really explode – come see!)

Love Potion: DIY a mini necklace set of Love Potion that really explodes with Love! Adorable, fun craft for best friend or spouse

Want to see how it works with tempura and on a larger scale? Nebula Jars below:

DIY Galaxy Jars craft with pink, purple, and blue paint and gold glitter.
These Galaxy jars are much like the elements jars necklaces, but they’re huge and super fun to make!

Jars are also super fun to play with- Have you seen Calming Jars?

Glittery calming jars made in mason jars with purple, gold, and green glitter.
Calming jars are some of my favorites – they’re so mesmerizing.
Element Jars: Create Sun, Moon, Earth, and Sky DIY tutorial graphic.
Element Jars: Create Sun, Moon, Earth, and Sky that are labeled on the front with a paint marker.
DIY Element Jar Necklaces Tutorial pictures

Mini Clear Glass Jars Bottles with CorkMini Clear Glass Jars Bottles with CorkMini Glass Wish Bottles Cork Tops forMini Glass Wish Bottles Cork Tops for

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