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.

Materials to make your own marbled planters:

• Unfinished concrete or ceramic planters (I get mine here)
• Martha Stewart Multi Surface acrylic paint (I have used other brands, but this is the only one that stays on top of the surface of the starch)
• Deep bowl that can fit your planter
• Plastic disposable cups
• Popsicle sticks
• Staflo liquid starch
• Krylon Triple thick gloss glaze spray paint

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).

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.

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

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!