Corded Jars

I’ve been wanting to decorate a canister with cording for a while now. Last week, I finally got to it! And it turned out better than I expected it to, honestly. Though it took a while to get the hang of it.

What you’ll need:

• cording
• jar(s)
• super glue
• Elmer’s tacky glue OR wood glue

Step 01: Prepare your jar. I used a Tostito’s salsa jar that I only cleaned and wiped down. I didn’t see any need to take the label off.

Step 02: Using super glue, secure the end of your cording to the top of the jar.

Step 03: In sections, coat the jar with tacky/wood glue and tightly wrap the cording around it. Don’t make your sections too big or the glue will start to dry before you can get to it.

Note: Don’t use hot glue. See those gaps? Caused by hot glue. Hot glue dries too quickly, which means you have to work in very small sections. That makes this project so much more time-consuming. This first jar took me about an hour to complete.

I used wood glue on my second jar. It was very messy, but I finished the jar much faster. Also, the color it turns when it dries is nearly the color of the cording. So if you accidentally leave gaps, it’s harder to tell.

Tacky glue, on the other hand, allows you the flexibility to shift your cording as you continue wrapping around the jar. But it also doesn’t run. It keeps the cording secured in place. With the wood glue, I had trouble keeping the cording from slipping off in other directions.

Just something to keep in mind when planning this project. 🙂

Here’s the second try:

Much better, right?

Step 04: This part is optional. Once you come to the end of your jar, turn it over and wrap a circle around the bottom. Secure the end with super glue to keep it from coming undone while the rest dries.

And you’re done! Now you can find something pretty (or useful) to put in it!

This is an easy project, but it is messy and time-consuming. As I said, the first one (with hot glue) took me an hour. The second one took maybe half that time. But I was covered in wood glue by the end. Small price to pay.

Cording has a way of making mundane, ugly things look nice. Even if it is poorly done…. -_-