How to Make Potion Bottles

5 Materials
$20
1 Hour
Easy

Halloween home decor is something I’m new at. We’ve done fall decor for the most part in years past and I’ve truly loved it. But, as my kids are growing older they’ve asked me to incorporate some “scary” decor into the mix.


We’re not talking super scary, my kids are young after all. Plus, I’m not one for horror around the house! But, I can get behind some not-so-scary, kid friendly halloween home decor.


HALLOWEEN HOME DECOR ON A BUDGET


Halloween is a holiday I don’t love to spend a ton of money on. I’d rather invest in fall and Christmas decor. It’s what makes my heart happy. For this reason I decided to get resourceful with the Halloween home decor and make a lot of it.



CHOOSING GLASSWARE FOR THE POTION BOTTLES


I knew I wanted several potion bottles for the witch station, and after a little research, figured out just how to distress them.

You can get glass bottles almost anywhere. Maybe even your own home! Grab some in different sizes and shapes for this project. After hitting a few thrift stores with little luck, I went to Hobby Lobby where they had all their glassware 50% off, making each of these little bottles $2 to $3.


Once home I grabbed all the supplies needed to distress the bottles.Distressing Witch potion boggles supplies:



  1. Glass bottles ( these from amazon are a great price!)
  2. Medium grit sand paper
  3. Black and brown craft paint
  4. Potion labels (see free printable below!)
  5. Mod Podge


SAND BOTTLES


Taking the medium grit sandpaper, sand all surfaces of bottles, making sure to hit where there would be real contact points a little more that other areas to create a more natural wear look.


DISTRESS WITH PAINT


Once bottles are sanded and you’ve removed most of that new glass sheen, take a paintbrush and apply a thin layer of paint over the bottle. The, taking a rag or paper towel, gently whip off and dab at paint, removing most and giving it more of a dirty old look.


Do this to all jars, and let dry.

APPLYING LABELS


While paint is drying, cut out your desired potion labels from the PDF supplied in the original post on my website. Or feel free to experiment with making your own labels! When bottles are dry, (they dry fairly quickly) take one bottle at a time, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the glass, and place label onto it. Press onto glass firmly. Once secured to glass, paint more glue over the top, sealing the label. Let dry and move onto next bottle.

FINISHING DISTRESSING


Once labels are dry, you’re going to go over the bottle one more time, making it look really dirty (if that’s what you’re going for) and also distressing the label so it matches the potion bottles.

Here is an example of a label before distressing.


And after.


Don’t be afraid to get them dirty! Take your thumb over the paintbrush and flick paint from the brush onto the glassware. Dab it again with the paper towel to smudge it a bit. I even used my fingers in paint and wiped back and forth, making dirty hand prints on the glass. Get creative! This is a fun process!


It took me less than an hour to distress these bottles. Feel free to experiment and make your own labels. You can also print them on yellow or tan paper to help with the distressed look.


All in all these are a perfect addition to your Halloween home decor!

Resources for this project:
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Eryn | Eryn Whalen Online
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Cheryl Fairchild Cheryl Fairchild on Oct 11, 2020

    You and distress the labels by heating fine sand in a heavy sauce pan on the stovetop. Pick up you label with a long tweezer or pliers(needle nose work great) and dip the edges in the sand for a few seconds. Rotate and continue until desired effect. Easy and doesn’t take long for a beat up old effect.p

  • Kathy Kathy on Oct 11, 2021

    Very cool.

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