How to make glass fishing floats (and ideas for displaying them)

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Looking for how to make glass fishing floats? Well, with the right materials and some thrift store finds it is easy. Let me show you how I made my colored glass nautical balls.

Today, I want to show you how I created some beautiful nautical decor for my summer decorating. I figured out how I could make homemade glass fishing floats. It is a fun DIY project, and the most important materials came from the thrift store, so it is also a cheap and affordable craft project.

What Are Glass Fishing Floats

These Japanese glass floats are also called glass buoys. When a fisherman used to string fishnets together by hand, he would tie these glass balls, filled with air, to the edges of the net to keep the net afloat. Beachcombers can still find these hand-blown floats washed ashore from time to time.

To be honest, I had no idea those things were called buoys before I looked it up. In fact, I don’t even know how to pronounce buoys. I hear it in my head, but I am most likely getting it all wrong. To me, they are just large fishing floats or glass balls in macrame nets. Anyway, I made them, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

These Japanese fishing floats have become quite the collector’s item. You can still buy real vintage floats, but I can imagine they are getting rare. There is no way one will wash ashore here on the North Sea, so I opted for the next best thing and made some myself.

How to Make DIY Glass Fishing Floats: Dyeing the Glass Balls

One needs glass balls that can be dyed and tied into fishnets to create sea glass fishing floats. Glass vases, lamp globes, or round fish tanks are alternative items that can be repurposed into DIY glass fishing floats. Craft materials involved are glass paint and rustic twine. There are only a few steps involved in making DIY glass floats.

The idea for this summer craft project came from a trip to NYC. As a good blogger, I visited a few stores I only know from blog reading. Pottery Barn is one of them. There, I set my eyes on these:

Mercury Glass buoys from Pottery Barn. They were beautiful and gorgeous, and I loved them. I left them there because a) they would not fit into my suitcase and b) they were crazy expensive. So instead, I took pictures and made a mental note: “Make large shipping floats”.

That mental note was still bouncing around when I recently visited the thrift store.

I found a small bowl made of clear glass of unknown purpose (a candle holder perhaps) and a large outside lamp with the perfect glass globe. I got them for a couple of bucks combined. I knew they would be perfect for my floating fishing balls craft project.

The next step was painting them to look like vintage glass. I used the Modpodge trick I learned when dyeing small glass pots on the smaller of the two.

Related Reading: How to Dye and Paint Glass Jars

I mixed Modpodge with blue and green food coloring until I had the blue-green color that I liked. I just love how these colors look together, all pretty and marbled, I could stare at it for hours.

But I didn’t have time for that. I needed to move on. I painted the small vase from within. I also painted an old lamp sphere I found in our basement.

I am unsure if these were a worldwide phenomenon, but I don’t think there was a home in the fifties/sixties in the Netherlands that didn’t have at least one of these spheres hanging on a ceiling. We had at least three of them in my childhood home.

This one was in our current house when we moved in. There really was not much point in taking it to the thrift store since they have at least ten of them at any given day. So, I kept it for the day when a crafting inspiration would hit. Well, that day came. I obviously painted this one from the outside. Just the Modpodge and food coloring combo brushed on with a foam brush.

I painted the large globe from the thrift store lamp with glass paint from the inside since it had an opening large enough to stick my hand in.

It was difficult to paint and became all streaky and spotty as it was so hard to move my hand inside without messing the paint up all the time. Didn’t take a mid-step photo of that, but you’ll see what I mean. In hindsight, it might have been better to use sea glass spray paint for the large globe. I would do that next time, it would make creating sea glass balls so much easier.

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Homemade Glass Fishing Floats: How to Tie a Glass Float Net

Tying a glass float net is a simple craft that is easy to learn. It involves only two basic knots, a larks head knot, and a reef knot. Twine is the perfect material to create the look of a nautical glass ball. The only challenge is to make sure the fishnet follows the round shape of the ball and is stretched out evenly around the globe. Let me show you how I did it.

Then it was time to start thinking about the fishnets. My recent fishing net project on my white vase gave me some confidence and guidance but applying it to round globes was a different matter. But I made it work. I used jute twine for this project because it has exactly the right kind of rustic, nautical vibe.

How to Make Fish Nets Around Nautical Glass Floats.

You start with a circle of twine around the top or base of your sphere.

Tie at least 6 double strands of twine to this circle. You can use a Larks Head Knot (also known as cow hitch) to start, pull your strands through the loop.

The next step is to tie two strands of a different pair together in a simple knot (a reef knot). Go around your glass ball tying strands in knots keeping them at the same height.

For the next round do the same with new combinations of two strands. It sounds complicated but this is so easy. Just look at the picture above or below and you get the idea.

Make sure your fishing net follows the curve of the glass. It can be handy to have an extra set of hands to stretch and hold the twine as you continue to make the knots.

Keep a good tension on the twine and make sure that the distances between the knots remain the same.

If you don’t have a crafting assistant at hand you can use a tie-wrap to pull all the strands tight at the end. Pull the two active stands out while you work with them and then stretch them back within the bunch. This trick will help to keep the net taut around the round surface of your glass ball.

Keep on splitting and tying two strands together into the fishing net. When you reach the top (or bottom when working on something like a vase), you need another circle of twine to tie the fishing net on and end it all up. The little rim on my lamp globe helped keep that circle in place but made it difficult to attach the strands if I tied it first. (The circle would be too tight to work with).

I hope this image is clear enough. You can see the circle of twine underneath the rim, I have it tied in the front here, and you can see very loose knots around it. The trick was to not close my circle yet but to first make very loose knots in the strands, string the small bit of twine through the holes, and then tie the circle of twine really tight under the rim. I had room in my knots to get them tight and in place. This last phase makes the fishnet look good. It needs to be stretched and have a lot of tension.

Related Reading: 53 (super cute and easy) DIY Ideas for Bohemian Decor

How to Display Decorative Glass Balls

With all my homemade Japanese glass fishing floats ready, it was time for the next step. Making a pretty coastal decor with my glass fishing floats on my garden table.

Creating a lovely coastal decoration with your fishing floats is really easy. Grab a nice tray or basket and put the homemade fishing floats inside. You can add shells, starfish,driftwood and flowers. I used mini succulents, and voila – my display was done! 

More Decorative Balls Ideas

Decorative balls or spheres are wonderful decorating accessories. They are so easy to use and always add great fun to a decorating vignette. I love making them and using them in my decor, like thrifted disco balls on a spring mantel that look so pretty. Speaking of spring decorating, these DIY decorative moss balls on my garden table can be used inside and outside. I made faux fabric snowballs to use in my winter decor.

Related: Tips and Tricks for Easy Summer Decorating.

Other decorating ideas for coastal decor with your fishing floats:

• Tie a bunch of them together and hang them.
• Put little battery-operated lights inside and use them in your garden for evening lights.
• Make mini versions and turn them into Christmas ornaments.
• Add them to a crate with bottles, flowers, and fairy lights for a rustic coastal centerpiece.
• Hang one from a hook for a light touch of nautical decor in a bedroom.

Where to Buy Glass Fishing Floats

If you are not into making yourself some homemade glass floats. You can, of course, buy them.

Etsy is a great place to find vintage fishing floats and brand-new fishing floats can sometimes be found at Walmart, OneKingsLane, and Wayfair.

Here are my favorite fishing floats you can buy online:

If you like my decorating style, you will find some great inspiration on my SHOP MY FAVORITE HOME DECOR page.

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Thank you for sharing my content!