My Favorite Way to Fake Beach Glass (And It’s Budget Friendly!)

Learn how to transform ordinary mason jars into glowing faux sea glass lanterns with simple glass paint, spouncers, and budget‑friendly tricks for a coastal vibe.

Skills Required: Beginner. You’ll be applying paint to the jar with a spouncer – I’ll show you the easy to way to do it.

I don’t know about you, but something about the soft glow of candlelight, paired with that dreamy, frosted look of beach glass! It just instantly brings me to my happy place by the shore.

So as soon as warmer weather hit, I rummaged through my craft stash to challenge myself to capture that seaside magic right at home. Enter: faux sea‑glass mason jar lanterns that look like they were tossed by the waves and polished by the sand.

This project couldn’t be more beginner‑friendly. All you need is some frosted glass paint and a spouncer, or even a makeshift sponge if you’re improvising.

In just a few simple steps, you’ll transform ordinary jars into flickering lanterns that glow with that soft, ethereal look of weathered glass.

And the best part? You can personalize the colors, sizes – even stash‑friendly substitutions – so these can carry you beyond just summer décor.

Let’s dive in (pun intended!) and bring that beachy bliss to your living room, porch, or wherever you love to unwind.

It is important that, in this project, you “spounce” on the paint as opposed to brushing it on. This means that you’re going to use foam spouncers (small brushes developed for this technique) or a small piece of sponge. That gives you the beachy-texture.

Get the printed how to card below!

Faux Sea Glass Jars

Learn how to make glass look like sea glass in this easy project.

Prep Time15 minutes

Active Time1 hour 30 minutes

Dry Time6 hours

Total Time7 hours 45 minutes

Yield: 2 lanterns

Cost: $12

You have a few options for paint – mixing Mod Podge and paint is NOT one of them. You need a frosted paint to make the beach glass effect. Jars painted with paint and Mod Podge or food coloring and Mod Podge look like this. They don’t look frosted.
The options you have for paint are as follows:

Find a frosted glass paint in the color of your choice (which is sometimes hard to find)
Add paint or food coloring to frosted top coat glass paint
Add paint or food coloring to frosted Gallery Glass
Frosted glass spray paint (but you can’t dye it!)

When you add paint or food coloring to the frosted paint, you’ll use about 4 – 6 drops. Do a small test on a piece of glass (you can scrape it off before it completely seals). You can always add more color but you can’t take it away.

I hope you enjoyed these easy summer project! I’d love for you to also check out these other ideas: