You need the leaves to lie as flat as possible. So that means that you have to peel the plastic ribbing off from each of the leaves. It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be – just slip your fingernail underneath the end of one, and it peels right back.
This is important – You need to thoroughly wash your jar with dish soap and water to remove any surface dirt or grease.
Then wipe down the outside of the jar with rubbing alcohol. If you skip these two steps there’s a good chance your leaves won’t stick.Once you’re done washing the jar, be careful not to touch the sides of the glass where the leaves are going to go. (You don’t want to add any oils from your fingers back onto the jar.).
Step 3: Add the first leaf
Using a small sponge brush, add a thin layer of matte finish Mod Podge to the outside of the jar – just larger than the size of your leaf.
Wait a few minutes for the glue to start drying so that it gets a little sticky. Then carefully press a leaf onto the glue.Don’t try adding the leaf onto the glue right away or it won’t stick. The Mod Podge needs to start getting a little sticky before the leaf will adhere to the glass.
Once the first leaf is sticking nicely (all the edges should be stuck, and it shouldn’t shift around at all), add another thin layer of Mod Podge where the next leaf is going to go.
Again, you’ll need to wait until the glue starts to get tacky before you add the next leaf. I used a fan to help speed up the process.
Step 4: Cover the rest of the jar
Add a second leaf onto the Mod Podge. You can overlap the leaves as much or as little as you'd like.
Use the sponge brush to press down any edges of the leaves that aren’t quite sticking. Don’t add any extra Mod Podge. There should be plenty leftover on the sponge brush – it’s a sponge, so the Mod Podge kind of soaks into it.
Use your finger (or the sponge brush) to press down any pesky edges that don’t want to stick. Make sure all the edges are sticking nicely before you move on to the next leaf.
When you’ve finished adding all the leaves, wait for them to dry enough that they don’t move. Maybe 15 to 20 minutes in front of the fan? It depends how much Mod Podge you added.Once the leaves seem to be good and stuck, squeeze on a generous amount of Mod Podge.
Use the sponge brush to (carefully) brush a layer of Mod Podge around the entire jar.
Step 5: Allow the jar to dry
Then let the jar dry. Mine was dry to the touch in about 1 hour, but there were little areas that still looked white. So I left it overnight to finish drying.
By the next morning it was completely dry and there were no more white glue spots. It looked so pretty!
Place a candle inside and light it. Your mason jar leaf lantern is complete!I love how it turned out!
TIP:
If you iron your leaves before placing them on the jar they stick a lot easier!We re-made this craft recently and didn't need to use a fan or wait for the Mod Podge to get sticky when we used leaves that had been ironed.