*** Thousands of infants and children have ended up in the hospital after ingesting water beads and many retailers are no longer selling them. I have removed my water bead product links out of an abundance of caution. ***
Ah, summer! The weather doesn’t always announce the approaching summer here in Denver. We’ve had snow on Mother’s Day, “last day of school” celebrations in sweatshirts and jackets, and this year our spring has been particularly cloudy and rainy. So, sometimes I don’t notice the approach of summer until I begin seeing the stores stocking their shelves with all things red, white, and blue.
This year I wanted to join in the patriotic fun by making a 4th of July Mason Jar Luminary with water beads. My goal was to use the water beads to create a US flag mason jar, but I wasn’t quite sure how best to accomplish this, so it took some trial and error (as many of my crafts do). I also created a very simple red, white, and blue striped 4th of July Luminary for fun.
Preparation
Layering water beads works best if all of the water beads are the same size. So, the first step was to hydrate the water beads. I hydrated the same amount (1 tsp.) of each color (red, white, blue, and clear) in the same amount of water (3 cups) for the same length of time (12 hours) to get them as close as possible to the same size.
US Flag Luminary
In my first attempt, I tried making a flag in a single jar, with red and white stripes on the lower half, and blue with white “stars” on one side of the upper half, while continuing the red and white stripe pattern on the other side of the upper half. It proved to be quite difficult getting everything to line up the way I wanted it to, so I decided to go back to the drawing board.
My next idea was to use two jars to create the flag. One jar would have only red and white stripes. The other jar would have red and white stripes on the bottom and blue with white “stars” on the top. This was much easier to accomplish, and looked far better!
To create the stripes, I started with a ring of red water beads around the bottom of the mason jar, then filled the center with clear water beads. Next, I made a ring of white beads, again filling the center with clear. It is pretty straight forward. I alternated red and white layers until I reached the top of the jar (where the threads begin), then filled in the rest with clear beads.
The second jar is made the same as the first (red and white stripes) until it is half full. Next, I did one ring of blue water beads (still filling the center with clear). After the first blue ring, I did a ring of 2 blue beads and 1 white bead all the way around. I repeated this pattern for four rows, then finished with a ring of solid blue and filled in the top with clear. It took a few tries to get the water beads to cooperate and layer the way I wanted them to, but the results were well worth the effort.
Red, White, and Blue Luminary
These are much simpler than the US flag luminaries. I made a ring of red water beads in the bottom of the mason jar, filled the center with clear water beads, and repeated two more times (three rings of red water beads). Then I made a ring of white water beads, filled the center with clear water beads, and repeated one more time (two rings of white water beads). Lastly, I made a ring of blue water beads, filled the center with clear water beads, and repeated two more times (three rings of blue water beads). I topped off the jar with clear water beads.
Why fill the center with clear water beads?
I filled the center with clear water beads so that I could put a light under the jar to turn it into a luminary. Clear water beads allow the light to pass through so that the whole jar will be illuminated. If the center was not filled with clear beads, light would only pass through the first few layers and the top of the jar would remain dark. You could absolutely make this without clear water beads. It would still look beautiful (and, in fact, the colors would be more vibrant), but it just would not light up as well.
Finishing Up with Liquid and Lights
Once the jars are filled to the top with water beads it’s time to add some liquid! (I like to put in enough beads so that the last layer is just above the top of the jar, and when I put the lid on, it squishes them down slightly and holds my pattern in place.) There are three main filling choices:
Add water. Water creates a neat effect with the water beads. It smooths and softens the edges of individual beads. Some colors take on a transparent quality. The beads almost appear “melted” together.
Add baby oil (or mineral oil). Oil does the opposite of water. It makes the water beads glisten and shine and makes each one stand out. This is my personal favorite. Also, for this jar, I didn’t want the water beads to look transparent because it kind of messes up the pattern when you can see all the way through the jar.
Don’t add anything. This is obviously the easiest. The water beads look great without anything added to them. Each water bead is well defined.
Finally, find a nice place to display your creation! Window sills are great because the jars look beautiful with natural light shining through. I also like to put the jars on a table or counter with a puck light underneath.
If you are interested in making these 4th of July Luminaries, here is what I used:
The links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your consideration!
- 16oz Mason Jars and 8 oz Mason Jars (Amazon)
- Water Beads
- Baby oil (Amazon)
- Puck Lights for Larger Jars (Amazon)
- Puck Lights with Metal Tins for Smaller Jars (Amazon)
Thank you for checking out my 4th of July Luminaries!
“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”
1 Peter 2:16
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