Different Methods to Glitter a Tumbler

There are several ways to get the glitter on your cup.  Depending on who you talk to they will swear by one method or another.  I've tried all of these methods and have had success with them all.  However, some have more work involved then others which ultimately makes me prefer two over all of them.

Mod Podge:

This is the first one I tried when I started learning about tumblers.  

With this method you take a paintbrush and lightly coat the cup with mod podge.  Once it is evenly coated you glitter your cup.  Then you wait.  The cup has to be completely dry before you do a second coat and it takes several hours for it to dry.  The glitter didn't completely adhere to the cup so a lot of glitter fell off as it dried.  

Here is my first attempt at epoxy tumblers.  The one on the left is the very first one and the glitter smeared a little bit too much for me.  I learned later if I had used something like this Minwax Spray or Krylon Spray it would have prevented the glitter from spreading.  It is recommended that you use something like these two items with every method before you epoxy except the last one.

Tack it:

This was an interesting method.  It is only one layer of glitter and it dries pretty fast so you can epoxy the cup almost right away.  It was partially successful for me.  You can only really use superfine glitter for it to work.  You take equal parts Aileen's Tack-It Over and Over and water and blend well until it is a consistency of milk.  With a non sponge paint brush evenly coat the cup with the mix.  Let it sit until it is clear about 5 minutes.  Pour your glitter on.  Once you've finished putting the glitter on you lightly rub the glitter in.  It ends up laying flat and you get a very shiny cup. 

This cup was made with this method.  The color before was not as shiny and bright.  It still looked amazing but this way was so much prettier.  It is not something I would nix in the future.

However, you cannot use a chunkier glitter.  This one was not quite as fine and the tack-it method didn't work at all with this.  It ended up with glitter sticking up all over and some spots not getting any glitter.  

One of the biggest cons for me is you might add the glitter at the wrong time and it won't stick.  I did this when I tried this method a couple times and ended up using the next method to fix one cup so there was an even coating of glitter.  If the first cup is how they would all turn out like the blue cup I would use this method all the time.

Spray Adhesive:

This is one of my preferred methods.  You can get a couple coats of glitter on in a short amount of time.  Loctite Spray Adhesive is what I use.  When I first started I couldn't get 100 which is more a general purpose spray glue.  I ended up with the 200 and it worked just fine.  This is the method I use the most.  There is almost no wasted glitter.  Other then the glitter there isn't a lot of mess either.  I am going with glitter doesn't count as it will never leave the home at this point.

You will want to tape off any parts you don't want to glitter.  Each spray you will want to remove the tape right away so it doesn't stick.  This method will make it so you can control where the glitter goes.  If you wanted stripes you could easily do that.  Once you have the glitter on the cup you want you'll spray the adhesive to keep it there. Let it dry and epoxy like normal.  Usually this can all be done in a day.

Epoxy:

This is the final method.  It actual works really well.  I feel like you get a much denser glitter concentration then any of the other methods.

You also have a lot less wasted glitter with this method.  The one big thing is to make sure you aren't pouring a ton on at one time.  It needs to be slowly added so it sticks to the cup.  But once it is on it is on and it isn't going anywhere.

No matter the method you pick you'll want to be patient and take your time.  Cups will need dry

 time between coats.  Most of all have fun!