Mason Jar Solar Lights - DIY

Do you want to add a little glow to your night life? I did...but I didn't want to spend lots of $$$ so I made my own Mason Jar Solar Lights for about $2 per light! Plus they are super-cute, turn on and off automatically, easy and quick to make, and did I mention super-cute? 

Last weekend I went through all of the trial and error just for you. Here's how to make a Mason Jar Solar Light!

 

Supplies:

Mason Jars
Solar Lights (Walmart and Target)
Frosted and/or Glitter Spray Paint
Wire (1.2 mm gauge)
Needlenose Pliers
Drill with large bit
Goop Glue
Plastic Bag

Painting Mason Jars

Time: About 3-5 minutes per jar

 

1. Use the plastic bag to cover your hand, then put your hand into the Mason jar as far as you can to hold it.  You'll need to rotate your wrist when painting.

2. Hold the spray can about 6-8 inches away from the jar.  Then spray from the mouth down to the end of the jar.  Then start a new spray back to your hand.  Do a light coat all over the jar while rotating the jar with your hand.

3.  Wait a couple of minutes (or 30 seconds) and do it again but in a horizontal motion across the jar.

4. Only do about 2-3 thin coats of the Frost, if you put it on very heavy it will flake off once it dries!

5. Set the jar off to the side to dry and start the next one.

Here is a sample of the different colors/finishes I was testing out!

 

Tip:  Place your solar lights outside so they can charge up as much as they can in the sunlight.  Otherwise it will eat up the backup battery and they may not last as long!

 

(Pssst - that 'Mercury Glass' Mason jar will be showing up in another DIY post.)

Tip:  Try adding designs with tape for a completely different look!

Making Solar Lids

Time:  About 2 minutes per lid

1. Unscrew the lids from the Solar Lights.
2. Make sure you have a drill bit large enough to make a hole so that the LED solar light can fit through.
3. Take the flat lid of the Mason jar and mark where the hole for the light will go (most likely it is in the center).
4. Hold the lid tightly and drill the hole. Make sure to have another piece of scrap wood below your lid so that you don't ruin the surface of something important!

Tip: Use a screw to tap (lightly hammer) a hole before you start drilling, that way the drill bit doesn't skip around!


5. If the edges are rough you can wiggle the bit around a little while drilling, or if you have tin snips you can use those to cut any sharp edges.
6. Next, do a 'dry fit' of the solar light through the hole to make sure it fits correctly.  Also, check to make sure the solar light works properly.

7. Take the Goop glue and put a ring of glue around the flat edge of the solar light and put it on the lid.


Tip:  If you really want to keep it on there good, once you put the glue on the light and squish it on to the lid, then take it off again and add more glue to the lid and the light and squish them together.  The glue will probably come out the sides a bit, but if they will be up higher or along the fence it won't be that noticeable.

At this point you can take the lids and screw them onto the Mason jars and set them on things like tables, the ground, posts, etc.  Or, you can make them hangeable which is next...

Making Hangers

Time:  About 3-5 minutes per jar

Here comes the harder part of the job.  Through a lot of trial-and-error, I finally came up with a good-looking and 'easy' way to make these hangers.  Believe me, once you get the hang of doing this it will get easier.  Don't be surprised if you end up trashing the first one because it looks sloppy compared to the 2nd and 3rd...

1.  Use your needle nose pliers or wire cutters to cut a piece of wire about 2 feet long.

2. Go about a third of the way down the wire and make a 2 inch kink. This will be one of the handles. 

3.  Hold it against the jar and make another kink on the other side of the jar, this will be the second handle.

4.  Use the needle nose pliers to twist the two ends together a couple of twists just to hold it together.

5.  Use a Disney Princess pencil (or any pencil, I guess) and put it through one of the loops and twist until it barely tightens.

6.  Do the same thing to the other side.

7.  At this point you can tighten by twisting the pencil on each side until you get it where you like it.

8.  Make a couple more twists with the needle nose pliers where the ends meet.  Then trim the ends right next to the twist and use the pliers to tuck it down under itself so it doesn't poke anything.

 

 

You can cut another length of wire and hook it around the two loops to hang, but I chose to use twine for hanging.  I didn't like how the wire was kinking and not smooth (you would need a much higher gauge wire to prevent that from happening).

 

Tip:  The silver lids are from the solar lights sold at Target for $2 each and the black lids are from the lights from Walmart for $1 each.  The lights from Walmart emit a much crisper, white light that lasts longer than the lights from Target...and they are half the price!

 

 

These lights are in the same order as the previous picture.  The Target lights are in front and the Walmart lights are in the back.  See how the light looks different for each one?  (The Target Blue one was really dim, it looks bright in this picture because of the brighter Walmart White one behind it!)  The pantry makes a great testing area!

 

 

Here they are hanging on my fence.  I was going to hang them from cute hooks I found at Home Depot for $0.74 each, but when I tried to screw them into the cedar fence it wouldn't hold.  Cedar is better with nails rather than screws!

And I was going to hang this one a couple of boards to the right but a cicada decided to leave it's shell...I'll pass!

 

 

Leave a note: Where do you plan on placing your super-cute new solar lights?  What other finishes do you see on your Mason jars?