Uses for Chipped Jars
- Chipped jars should not be used to store food.antique canning jars image by pixelcarpenter from Fotolia.com
Once a jar has been chipped, it loses its ability to hold food in an airtight environment. While some people might simply recycle the glass or throw it away, there are many projects where chipped jars can come in handy. Chipped jars can be decorative and even useful, and finding the right project can give a cracked jar new life. - If the jar is only a little chipped along the rim, fill it full of your favorite potpourri and stretch a cheap doily over the mouth, using a rubber band to hold the doily tight. Glue a ribbon around the rubber band to cover it up and add embellishments in the form of bows, small plastic fruit or other accessories.
- If you have a particularly large jar, use it as a planter. Growing small flowers or herbs like basil or garlic in the chipped jar. If you would like to decorate your new planter, consider painting it or covering it with stickers. Look for plants that don't mind a bit of dampness.
- Just because a chipped jar can't hold food any more doesn't mean it can't be used to store things. If you have chipped baby food jars, glue them to a board and leave the board on your work bench. They make ideal storage for nails, screws, bolts, nuts and washers. You can also use them to store sewing notions and other small things in your house.
- Use dried kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans and soybeans to create colorful layers in your chipped jar. Fill to the top as tightly as you can and screw on the lid. Cover the lid with white muslin held in place with a rubber band. Cover the rubber band with a ribbon and leave it in your kitchen or a guest room as a decorative accent.
- For a quick incense holder, fill the jar most of the way up with sand or uncooked rice. Light a stick of incense and position it in the jar. The sand or rice will hold the incense erect and catch the ash.
