Caffeinated with color: Use coffee filters to craft an elegant vase

This pretty DIY vase looks like it came straight from a chic home design store, but it couldn’t be easier to make from something many people already have in their kitchen cabinet: coffee filters. You provide the color scheme by choosing marker colors to complement the hues in your space.
Spraying the filter gently with a mist of water causes the colors to blend and creates a look that’s reminiscent of a tie-dye pattern or tissue paper collage. When you completely cover the vase with the colored paper, the effect is supremely sophisticated. Whether filled with a dramatic bouquet of flowers or a single, enormous sunflower, the vessel will look stunning as a dining table centerpiece, coffee table accent or entryway visual greeting.
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Materials
- Plastic sheet
- White basket coffee filters
- Wide-tip markers in five or six colors
- Spray bottle filled with water
- Blow dryer
- Roll of paper towels
- Jar of Mod Podge
- Tall, clear glass vase
- Art paintbrush
- 12-inch piece of thin twine
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Cover the work surface with the plastic sheet.
2. Flatten a coffee filter on top of the work surface, so its interior faces upward.
3. Color small sections of the top of the filter randomly with the markers until the whole filter has color.
4. Spray the colored filter with water from the spray bottle, and watch the colors bleed together.
5. Plug in the blow dryer, and gently dry the filter.
6. After a minute or so, place the filter on a paper towel, and continue drying until it’s nearly dry or dry.
7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 with five more filters.
8. Tear each of the filters into small pieces.
9. Brush Mod Podge on a spot at the bottom portion of the outside of the vase.
10. Place a torn piece of coffee filter on top of the Mod Podge.
11. Top the coffee filter piece with another coat of Mod Podge.
12. Continue applying Mod Podge and the torn filter pieces until you've covered the entire outer surface of the vase.
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13. Tie the piece of rope twine in a bow just above the middle of the vase.
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