DIY Dirt Vase Hack

April 2021

I joined the bandwagon on this EXCELLENT upcycle vase hack! Here is how I turned a dated brown vase that I was thinking about donating into this awesome black dirty thing that looks peachy on my mantle. To pull this off, you need these things:

  1. A vase you want to get muddy
  2. Dirt (potting soil works too)
  3. Almond flour
  4. A little bit of water
  5. Black spray paint – matte works best
  6. Gloves optional

This is the vase that I started with:

It had a pottery texture but was a glossy finish. I started out using this chalkboard spray paint, but I didn’t love the gloss finish. So I shot a bit of this matte spray paint over two of the chalkboard paints for a final finish.

I let the paint dry for about 20-30 minutes. In the meantime, I got a bucket and hunted for some light colored dirt in my yard. I got a scoop of that and added about half a cup of almond flour for some lighter gritty texture.

I added a bit of water to my mixture. I smeared the dirt mixture on, but needed to add more water to get this consistency:

I continued to smear my coat of mud onto the vase. This was after a thin layer:

After I finished smearing, I thought it could use a little bit of sticky to keep the dirt on the vase. So I lightly sprayed a final coat of matte spray paint on the vase:

I let the vase dry overnight and then lightly wiped the dirt off. Here is the final:

Pretty easy for a free upcycle! Looks like she belongs just right on my mantle.