How to Make Marbled Planters

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After seeing my friend Tara make these super gorgeous marbled nail polish planters. I just had to try my hand at creating a similar look. I’ve tried nail polish marbling before, but I could never make it look as good as Tara did. So instead, I went with my old standby of multi surface craft paint and liquid starch and the planters came out so super cute and colorful. Now I am hooked and want to make all the marbled planters! Below I am sharing my tips on how to make marbled planters so that you can get in on the fun too.

How To Make Marbled Planters

Materials to make your own marbled planters:

How To Make Marbled Planters

Instructions

Begin by filling your bowl with the liquid starch so that it is high enough that the planter can sit all the way down in the bowl but not too much that it will overflow when dipping your planter. Then put a small dollop of the paint colors you chose for your planter into the plastic cups. Add a few drops of water to the paint to thin it down and make it thinner (you want something similar to the consistency of cream).

How To Make Marbled Planters

Next, use the popsicle sticks to stir the paint and water and then drip the paint onto the surface of the liquid starch. Once you have added your colors, feel free to use a toothpick or clean popsicle stick to swirl the paint a bit to make a marbled pattern.

Now it is time to dip your planter. There are two techniques that you can use. The first is to gently roll your planter along the surface of the starch to pick up the marbled paint. The second is to dip the planter bottom side down into the starch until it comes up to the top of the planter. Try out both techniques to see which look you prefer.

How To Make Marbled Planters

Once you removed the planter from the starch, gently run it under the water from your faucet. This will remove some of the starch. However, you don’t want to keep it under the water for more than a few seconds on each side. You also don’t want to rub the planter, otherwise the paint will start to come off. Once you have rinsed it off, set it aside to dry overnight. You can speed up this process by using a heat gun or hair drier.

Once the paint is set, take it outside and give it a coat of Krylon triple thick gloss glaze. This will make the paint marbling permanent.

The Results

How To Make Marbled Planters

Once the spray paint is dry, your planters are ready to use. I love how you never know what the outcome is going to be with this process. Every time you dip you get a new look!

Also, if you plan to dip more than one planter, you can add more paint and redip into the starch. And when you want to change colors, you can stir up the paint into the starch. This will reset the start for a new color palette.

If you love these planters, but don’t want to try it yourself. You can grab them already marbled for you over in my shop.

And be sure to check out my other marbling tutorials here!

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  1. Amelia Titus

    May 21st, 2019 at 7:53 am

    Hey! These are absolutely gorgeous and I follow your work so much. Everything you make it so beautiful and easy to DIY. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into it!

    Question, though – is there any way you can make your font larger? I am a 30 year old woman and I just used the Zoom 125 focus on my browser for the first time ever. LOL

    Keep up the good work!

  2. kailochic@hotmail.com

    May 21st, 2019 at 10:44 am

    Ahh! Thanks so much for the feedback! I didn’t really even realize the font was so small on a desktop! I just increased it, so you should be able to read it without zooming!

  3. Juliana

    June 17th, 2019 at 5:57 pm

    Hello there!
    I love plants and often look for different/beautiful planters…
    Really am willing tho give this a try but here in Brazil we don’t have anything like liquid starch… do you know of anything I could use instead??

  4. kailochic@hotmail.com

    June 20th, 2019 at 11:41 am

    You can make your own solution using corn starch (or any other food starch) to thicken water. It should work the same.

  5. Denise Lamwatt

    March 30th, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    These are simply beautiful, as is all your work. Can you do this with glass vases? Thanks

  6. kailochic@hotmail.com

    March 31st, 2020 at 8:21 am

    Thank you! Unfortunately this process won’t work with glass, but you could try hydrodipping or nail polish water marbling to marble glasses.

  7. Julie

    May 30th, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Hello. I ordered some planters and they are cement. I guess I need to paint before marbling, right? Otherwise background is grey. Is there a paint that you would recommend I use for painting the cement? Thank you.

  8. kailochic@hotmail.com

    June 29th, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Sorry for the delay in responding! I am not sure that it will work with the cement planters unfortunately. I think you will need unfinished ceramic planters.

  9. julie

    June 26th, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    hi, i clicked on the link for the planter but it didnt link them

  10. kailochic@hotmail.com

    June 29th, 2020 at 8:43 pm

    Unfortunately the company has sold out of them and is closing altogether in July. But any raw, unglazed ceramic planter will work.

  11. Melanie

    September 23rd, 2020 at 11:41 pm

    Love these! Would these work with terracotta planters too, or only ceramic?

  12. kailochic@hotmail.com

    September 28th, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    They might work with terra cotta, but the colors would be more muted and the terra cotta color would likely show through.

  13. Patricia

    March 28th, 2021 at 7:50 am

    They are fantastic I love andhave some flowers that’s the best I have seen in planets. Thank u

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