Learn how to make the most unique DIY photo vases out of PVC pipe! This makes a great centerpiece for Mother’s Day or special gift idea.
Skills Required: Intermediate. You can opt to use a miter saw or have the pipe cut for you. Drilling into the wood plaque to seat your pipes is optional. Your only challenge might be Mod Podging the laserjet photo images to the pipes without wrinkles, so you should have some Mod Podge experience.
If you don’t have Mod Podging experience, it doesn’t mean you can’t try! But I would do a test on a small piece of pipe first.
Everybody has a mom, even Man Podger David. No, he wasn’t brought down on a crafty alien spaceship, though sometimes his projects are out of this world! That was a horrible joke, by the way.
David’s decoupage gift for Mother’s Day is a collection of photo vases made out of PVC pipe, so even though my joke was bad, it was completely true. Here’s how he made these DIY vases.
I’m getting a lot of requests for Mother’s Day themed items at my Etsy store, so I had the holiday on the brain when I visited Home Depot recently. I found myself, as I often do, in front of all the PVC piping thinking “there must be something I can make out of this!” PVC pipe for the win.
There are so many great shapes and sizes and it’s all so affordable, but I’ve never been able to come up with anything. And it suddenly dawned on me that I could use the various pipes to make DIY vases.
And then I thought, why not decoupage the pipes in old pictures and make fun, nostalgic photo vases for a Mom’s Day celebration? For a total cost of about $12.
Here’s what you will need for this project:
- PVC pipes – various widths
- PVC caps to fit the pipes
- PVC pipe cement
- Outdoor Mod Podge
- Wooden plaque for a base, painted with the color of your choice (mine is from Michaels)
- Glue (I used E-6000)
- Laser copies of old photos
- Foam brush (not pictured)
Tools
- Miter saw
- Forstner Bit and drill (optional)
You don’t *have* to use Mod Podge Outdoor for this project. Mine is going on an outdoor table, so the Outdoor formula would be appropriate. If this is going inside, you can use the formula of your choice (I recommend Gloss, Matte, or Satin).
It looks great with my family reunion centerpiece! Get the printable how to card below:
Photo Vase DIY
Equipment
- Miter saw
- Forstner Bit and drill (optional)
Materials
- PVC pipes various widths
- PVC caps to fit the pipes
- PVC pipe cement
- Mod Podge Outdoor
- Wooden plaque for a base painted with the color of your choice (mine is from Michaels)
- E-6000
- Laser copies of old photos
Instructions
- Cut the PVC pipe into various lengths from 8" – 11" using a miter saw.
- Following the manufacturer’s instructions, use the PVC cement to glue the caps to the bottoms of the pipes. This guarantees that no water will escape the pipes through the bottom. Set them aside to dry.
- On your computer, resize each photo to fit a specific pipe piece. You want to make each photo tall enough and wide enough to wrap around its designated pipe. Print the photos out onto plain paper using a laser printer.
- Soak the images in water. While the images soak, Remove the image from water and gently run your fingers down to remove the excess water.
- Coat the outside of your first pipe in Mod Podge. Apply the image to the pipe and use your fingers to smooth out bubbles. Add Mod Podge to seal the ends of the paper where there is overlap. Repeat for each pipe and let dry
- Use two Forstner bits to drill recesses into the wood plaque so the each pipe is seated. While this step is optional, it gives the project a more finished look and provides extra stability.
- Paint the wood plaque with acrylic paint and let dry.
- Give the photo vases a sealing coat of Mod Podge. When that's dry, trim away any excess paper from the tops and bottoms.
- Glue the tubes to the base using E-6000. Add some glue between the pipes for stability if necessary. Let dry completely before using.
Video
Notes
Some further thoughts on this project:
- I think next time I will paint the tops of the PVC pipes for a more finished look.
- It occurred to me that this could become a very adaptable thing. If you used a thicker base and drilled deeper holes you could skip gluing the tubes in place and just let the base hold them.
Then you could then decoupage other tubes with colorful graphics or fabric or what have you and, when you wanted to, swap out the tubes to suit your mood!
If you enjoyed this photo craft, you’re going to love these vintage Mod Podge photo transfer vases. You’ll be making glass clings. it’s really fun.
why do you dip the paper you’re going to decoupage in water first? are you supposed to do that when modpodging paper in general??
also, nice job!!
that is soooo inventive! i love this idea and the finished result looks fantastic 😉
Excellent question.
I do it with all my Mod Podge projects as it mostly eliminates any of the bubbling or wrinkling that can sometimes happen.
In this particular project I thought it was key as I needed the paper to wrap very smoothly around the pipe and dipping it in water made that a lot easier.
It is not absolutely necessary – just a suggestion based on my experiences. If you want to use that method for other projects just test the paper you’re using in advance to make sure it will hold up. Hope that helps.
David (the ManPodger)
Awesome idea. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Ohh really cool idea! What a great mothers day gift – or something for myself! Thanks for sharing this idea 😀
Dude David you impress me everytime!
Super cute! I wonder if there’s any flat washers that would fit on the top to put a ‘commercial’ look on these.
Included it on this week’s Craft Tutorial Thursday post.
ohhhh – very cool idea! I will be checking that out for sure. Thanks!
David
Super cute idea!!
Holy macral this is sooooooo cool! Very clever 🙂
What a great gift for mothers day. I would love if you shared it on my link party @ “show Off Mondays @ Kampen Lane”.
http://www.kampenlane.com
~Taylor-Ann
Would this work with an inkjet if it was not soaked in water and instead had a couple layers of Mod Podge over it. I dont have easy access to laser printers. I love this idea.
Love this idea! Can I use clear glass bud vases from the Dollar Store to make these?
Hey Julie,
You could totally skip the soaking part – it’s just a suggestion to make life easier.
Some ink jet ink will run when the Mod Podge hits it and some wont so be sure to do a test first.
If your ink runs you can buy a spray sealer which should solve the problem (Michael’s carries sealers- usually in the art supplies aisle – artists use them to seal their drawings after they are done.
Hope that helps.
David
I’m thinking of maybe using this for a class reunion table
decoration! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, what a cool idea! The hardware store is just full of so many unexpected decor projects 🙂
Linking up from I Heart Naptime.
What an amazing project! Thanks for sharing!
Can I use glossy mod podge instead of the outdoor mod podge? Please guide me on the pvc caps. Where did you find them. I have been all over the place and the caps fit over the pipe and have a curved bottom. Did you use a plug? If so, where did you find them? Thanks. I am so excited to make these for a graduation party!
You can use the glossy mod podge if you’d like. I purchased all the PVC at Home Depot. The plugs/caps were in the same section and an associate should be able to help you find the right match. Another alternative is to use cylindrical glass vases that you can sometimes find at the dollar store.
Hope that helps.
david
Love this idea! They would make great centerpieces for many events from weddings to reunions. Thanks for the great idea!
I was just going to say that these would make pretty awesome centrepieces for a wedding 🙂
That’s very resourceful of you David. I have leftover pipes from my renovation last week and I’ll really try to do this for my aunt. I’m also planning to do business with this, I’ll probably search for pvc pipe suppliers to get discounts.
Hey! I blog about tips for displaying printed instagram photos. I often look around to find cool and different ways to display photos so I can blog about it. The idea that you have got here is awesome, thank you for sharing and thank you for the inspiration!
These are amazing!! I really want to make them! I have been trying to think of some different crafts to do and this is perfect! I was wondering if you have tried it with colored photos as well?
Hi Danielle – you can definitely do these with color photos. They would look so cool!
Awesome!! Thank you 🙂