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 pallette 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 into 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 paint brush to pull the cotton from the sides and let the bottom paint flow up.
You can accomplish your jars by one of the following ways:
Put water down, stuff 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, its 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 paint brush 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 inside, add white cotton ball, then painted one and so on and so forth till its 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 water colors 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 its 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.