Awhile back I bought myself a bell jar (or cloche) to use for displaying things around the house. It was a steal at Michael’s. Thing was I never using it because I wasn’t happy with how it looked whenever I set it up. I realized what it was missing was a base of some sort. I tried using a plate and still wasn’t happy, I wanted a little height. I came up with the simplest solution and I love how it looks now.
Before:

After:

It just feels more finished to me.

I found it was a lot cheaper to buy a bell jar without a base, so I thought some of you might like to see how to save a little money and make your own base too.

Bell Jar Base

I wrote this tutorial based on starting with unfinished wood, but you could save even more time by looking for something already finished like a round cutting board.

Supplies:

• wooden circle the size of the bottom of your bell jar
• ball knobs (these are circles with one flat side)
• fine grit sandpaper (optional)
• wood stain (optional)
• staining brush or sponge brush (if staining)
• rag (if staining)
• varnish (optional)
• glue that is appropriate for wood (I used tacky glue)

1. I started with an unfinished pine circle from Jo-Ann. They had them in three or four different sizes and one fit my bell jar perfectly. One side of the circle is beveled which I didn’t need to that became the underside of my base.

I lightly sanded the circle and the knobs then wiped off any dust. Using the foam brush, I painted on and then wiped off layers of stain until I got the desired color. (This is the same grey stain I used on my Minnesota Love String Art.) Let dry.

The knobs didn’t stain to exactly the same tone as the base, but once put together it isn’t noticeable.

2. If you want to you can seal your base and knobs with varnish at this point. Let them dry.

3. Lay your base down so the bottom is facing up. Glue the flat side of the knobs to the base evenly spaced around the edge. Let dry.

Once the knobs, now feet, are dry. Turn the whole thing over and you have a quick and simple base for your bell jar.