As the owner of two old houses, I’ve inherited many a vintage glass shade. The results are beautiful, and the price: less than $25 dollars for the spray paint and vintage style cord.
I found vintage shades, similar to those shown here, on eBay for as little as $12 for the large and $6 for the small. (Note: Many of these antique shades are missing the hardware used to attach them to the lamp.
Supplies:
Step 1: Clean the shade.
Remove hardware and apply windex or your 1-to-1 water to vinegar mix to clean your glass shade.
For this DIY, you paint the inside of your shade. I used FrogTape Delicate Surface Painters Tape; $8 at The Home Depot.
Step 2: Tape the outside and edges of the shade.
Step 3: Prepare your spot spray.
Real vintage mercury glass often has a molted effect where the original silver coating has tarnished.
Step 4: Spray the shade with a vinegar/water solution.
The trickiest part of this DIY is the application of the solvent and paint, which has to be done quickly. Depending on the size of your shade, you can either work in sections or spray the whole thing at once.
Step 5: Apply a light coat of mirror effect spray paint.
Again, working quickly, spray a light coat over the inside of the shade. You will notice that the paint will bubble where it meets the vinegar spray.
Step 6: Gently dab the painted surface with a paper towel.
If this step seems daunting, don’t worry, as mistakes are easily fixed. Excess paint can be removed with a bit of rubbing alcohol.
Repeat Steps 4 through 6 until you achieve the desired effect.
Step 7: Repeat layered application of vinegar solution and paint.
Step 8 (Optional): Apply a fine coat of gold metallic spray paint.
Once finished, I found the effect of the mirror spray to be a bit cold.
Once your shade is completely dry, reassemble the pendant lamp.
Step 9: Assemble your lamp.
Test your light to make sure it works.
Here is my lamp with the larger shade, unlit.
Final Look
As you can see in my smaller shade lamp, the subtle mottled effect is even more visible when the lamp is lit.
My new/old mercury lamps.