Every witch needs a kitchen… and a cauldron, and some shelves, and some potion bottles, and a spell book.. and pets….
Visit my shop to see if there are any potions ready for purchase, or read on and learn to make your own.
MAKE SOME WITCH KITCHEN JARS
Making witch kitchen jars and ingredients is easy and inexpensive. Any jar or bottle of any size will do. I collect jars from my own kitchen, from friend’s houses, from garage sales, and from one of the thrift shops in town that always carries a vast and bizarre selection for very cheap.
Prepping Bottles
They should be thoroughly washed and dried. I like all my stuff to sort of ‘flow’ in the the same color palette. My labels are all the same paper, processed the same way. I use flat black paint, sometimes painting the jars black too. I use a small amount of silver, and some times dress up the jars using aged looking binder twine.
Almost all my jars get flat black spray-painted lids. I place all the lids on newspaper outside or in the garage, and spray paint them with light even coats, allowing the paint to dry before each application. One of my favorite spray paints for this is Excel because it covers nicely and dries fast.
BBQ Sauce bottle ready to use
Ingredients
Fill the jars using your desired ingredients. Anything goes. Let your imagination go wild. If that doesn’t work – find someone under 10 and ask them for some ideas, you’ll be amazed. Or, look online. Harry Potter websites can give you plenty of inspiration.
Check your cupboards. You can use all sorts of dried foods, baking ingredients and spices as witch ingredients. Use polymer clay and make your own ingredients. Take a trek through a park or wooded area to collect natural ingredients like leaves, moss, seed pods.
I try not to use anything that can break down, rot or mold in the jars. I do not want to have to refill them each year.
Glowing products and toys can also be used in your jars if you are using blacklights. To make a glowing liquid you can use RIT fabric whitener, laundry detergent containing phosphorous (Tide works very well)or regular highlighter felts. Take the felts apart and soak the foam tube from inside them in water to extract all the color.
This bottle is filled Tide Laundry Detergent and it glows nicely under a blacklight
Ingredients – hot glue strands, next add water and color if desired
Labels
Sometimes I fill the jars first and do the labels afterwards because I know what ingredient I want to use but don’t know what to call it. Other times I begin with the label and find something suiting to put in it.
Put some thought into what you’re doing. Don’t just call your rice from the pantry ‘Maggots’ Call it something like “Freeze Dried Sarcophaga Carnaria Larva” or “Dried Flesh Eating Blow Fly Larva” and in smaller text below “hand selected from the finest corpses” or something different like that.
2119
I have a huge antique Pyrex apothecary style jar that I filled with expanding brain toys, and instead of ‘Brains‘ I labelled it “Hob Goblin Brains” and below in fine print “Collected from the Darke Forests of England, after extensive I.Q. testing for Quality Assurance“.
So once I’ve decided on a name, I measure the area I want to make a label for and create it on my Printshop program, using regular white printer paper. The font I use is called Blackadder ITC.
Once the labels are printed I crumple them all up.
Then I brew up some very strong tea or coffee and pour it into a 9 x 13 pan.
I take each page and lay it into the pan to soak for a minute.
When the tea/coffee begins to seep into the paper fibers I carefully remove it and set it out on the counter to dry on wax or parchment paper. If you are in a hurry you can speed the drying process using a blow dryer or fan. Then if the color is not dark enough I re-soak them, or I use a paint brush to add extra color just along the edges or areas I want it to look more aged or water damaged.
Once thoroughly dry, I seal the labels using a matte varnish for acrylic paint. This can be purchased at art supply stores. I never skip this step as it makes the labels look less ‘home made’. Don’t worry if your paper seems very wrinkled, it will smooth out later.
Next I cut out each label. Using a regular white glue stick, I adhere each label to its jar being sure to get glue on the entire surface. Pay special attention to the edges of the label, it must be completely coated. Smooth label onto jar.
Sometimes I add binder twine to the top, using a hot glue gun to adhere to the top and base of the neck. Then I trim off the excess fibers. Using a drop of brown or grey acrylic paint and some water, I paint over the binder twine to age it.
…that’s it. The jar is done!
Display you work!
Make sure your area is adequately lit so people can appreciate you work! I made my own shelves with lights on each level. I also use LED spotlights to highlight certain jars as well. Lighting a shelf from the back or underneath can create some great effects, illuminating your jars and making them appear to glow.
Need a cauldron?
I made mine with paper mache back in 2004. I was inspired to make my own after seeing Bob Andrews cauldron It’s awesome, and the perfect shape! I followed his picture tutorial, and then added paper mache layers. When it was really thick and sturdy, I removed the bucketand finished the inside as well.
Off Season…
When Halloween is over and you are packing everything up take special care and wrap your jars and bottles in packing paper. Store them in sturdy containers or boxes. If you used any organic materials that can break down, best to empty them out before storing them. A jar can get pretty toxic over the year, and some could even burst. Carefully packed, you’ll be able to enjoy these for years.
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Thanks so much for this tutorial. I have actually used techniques picked up from here for numerous projects. The idea of using coffee to age the paper is brilliant, I’m actually using this techniques for my invitations this coming year.
-handy_haunter
Great ideas for witchy looking jars, they will come in handy
i love it!!!!
iam not the only one crazy for halloween
[...] Witches Kitchen [...]
Your ideas are GREAT, I made a whole bunch of bottle last Halloween and my whole family loved them. Thank You!
[...] Link (via ScreaminScott) [...]
[...] This site has some really nice bottle ideas. Witch Kitchen | AranaMuerta.com [...]
[...] been working on my collection of bottles for my Witch’s Kitchen. I got the idea from AranaMuerta. I can only hope my Witch’s Kitchen will look as cool. I’m planning to transform [...]
What type of paper and ink are used to make these labels? I have an inkjet printer and the ink runs when wet.
No you all are not the only ones crazy for Halloween…I love these ideals….they are awesome !
BooBerry: I just use a HP C3180 printer and regular cheap printer paper.
Thanks everyone for the comments
I just finished making some liquor bottles/decanters for our Halloween party and they turned out fantastic! Your instructions were very easy to follow and I was able to use things I already had laying around the house. These were so much fun to make…thanks for sharing!
I forgot to mention – I just LOVE these bottles!! Thank you for sharing your ideas DeadSpider.
absolutely awesome! I LOVE it
Patti
Great Idea!
This is a great project for my children to help me out with
Gee, I think I use the SAME glass dish for aging my signs! I usually end up with a different theme every year so end up making some sort of aged signage and this works great.
too cool…. I think Ill have to relabel my entire spice rack appropriately now!!!!
The first year I made my Witch’s bottles, I had the hardest time coming up with names. After last year, I spent my time thinking of good names for ingredients. I thought I would list a few here (for all of those like me who can’t seem to conjure up creativity quickly!)
Ingredients: Dragon tongue, scales, heart, Bonemeal, Venomous Tentacula, Plangentine, Powdered Deadly Night shade – flower pods, Dried stinging nettles, crushed snake fangs, horn slugs, porcupine quills, wormwood, valerian root, powdered moonstone, ashwinder eggs, mandrake root, monkshood, Jobberknoll feathers, Fluxweed, Horn of Bicorn, Knot grass, Lacewing flies, leeches – Leeches juice, boomslang skin – african snake, caterpillar, daisy roots, shrivel fig, scarab beetles, ginger root, asphodel – powdered root, belladonna – essence of poisonues plant, dried australian billywig stings – causes giddiness and levitation, cockroaches, crocodile parts, Doxy eggs – black in color, Dragon eggs – pale grey, Erumpent – African, Glumbumble juice – melancholy, Graphorn powder – dragon, mackled malaclaw – lobster claw, moke – small russian lizard, Peruvian Viper tooth, Unicorn hair, Powdered Devils claw, Galangal Root, Vampire blood, Gargoyle sweat, Troll teeth
Potions: (most, if not all, come from Harry Potter)
Confusing concotion, Burn healing paste – thicke orange paste, Dreamless sleep potion, Draught of peace- calms, soothes, Elixir of life, Elixir to induce euphoria -sunshine yellow, Felix felicis- molten gold color – extreme luck, Forgetfulness, Love, Mandrake, restorative draught – restores people who have been petrified to a normal state, Memory – improves access to memories, Polyjuice – drinker assumes the form of another person, Shrinking – acid green
Deflating draught – antidote to swelling potion, Sleeping draught/potion, Babbling beverage – causes drinker to babble nonsense, Skele-gro, Veritaserum – powerful truth potion – forces drinker to truthfully answer any question that is asked, Wit-sharpening, Wound-healing, Draught of the living dead- very powerful sleeping potion, Calming draught – Antidote to draught of the living dead, Boil-Cure Potion, Befuddlement Draught, Confusing Draught, Essence of Insanity, Essence of Murtlap, Essence of Rue
Exploding Potion, Invigoration Draught, Mrs Scower’s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, Shrinking Solution, Potion of Shadows
UNBELIEVEABLE!!! This is just really some of the greatest info on How to “witchy” up a place for Samhain!! I will definately make some witch bottles!! I will display them mostly year round especially when my neighbors( The Church of God) come calling on their membership drives lol I have told them I am one hundred and 13% pagan but they just laugh!! Now its time for me to turn the tables and Laugh!!!!
Thanks so very much!!!
Bright Blessings!!!
Have An Amazingly Magickal Day!!!
SpellCaster)0(
Oh these are so wonderful and brilliant! Thanks for the Tutorial!
I found this website last year and made a few b4 my Halloween Party. Everyone loved them. This year I added 15 more to my collection plus a black cat, webs, and a boiling cauldron. Thanks for all the great tips. It is nice to know I’m not the only Crazed Halloween Fan out there.
Happy Haunting!
For those who have printers where the ink runs when wet (like me) here is an alternative way to age paper.
Dont print anything yet, we are going to age the paper first.
1. Brew up some coffee – fairly strong I used about 2 teaspoons to 1 cup water
2. Lay some baking paper or flat tray or plastic sheet on a flat surface. I use baking paper (the greaseproof type) as it doesnt cling to the paper or lift and crinkle
3. Put your piece of paper on the prepared surface. Using some cotton wool balls, paper towel, material etc, dip into your coffee solution and squeeze excess out.
4. Wipe paper with solution across the page the turn paper the repeat going up and down so you dont have lines.
5. To really make the paper look authentic, take your cotton wool, dip it in the solution again, hold over the paper and squeeze droplets in a random pattern. leave it for 5 seconds or so the take a clean cotton wool ball and gently blot up the excess.
6. Put some weights on the corners to stop it curling up and leave to dry. once dry you can print on it. After printing, scrunch it up a couple of times to get the crackled look and paint with acrylic varnish.
Thank you for sharing your fabulous ideas -
just love ´em!
I read your fantastic witches kitchen ideas last year but left it too late. Not this year. ‘Ingredients are bottled up, just need to label them now. Thank you so much for the fantastic idea.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I just moved to Australia where Halloween is smack dab in the middle of sunny hot spring! Not only do they not celebrate Halloween here (ok drink some elixir of life I know everyone just had heart attacks) and so it’s hard to find any decor (or candy, or PUMPKINS!, or marshmallows, or candy corn), but it’s also really hard to set the scene for Halloween!
Now, thanks to you, I’ve got ideas and even more important, easy to follow how tos! I’ve already made some great looking labels and am tempted to try the cauldron!
I’ll have some of the good chocolate bars waiting if you ever want to come trick or treating at my house!
Hi! I just love your work! I was curious if you would be willing to reveal how you made the liquid inside the Nightmare Larvae jar. It is so stunning! And I can’t think of anything but colored water and oil.
If not, I totally respect your decision to keep your ‘trade’ secrets.
Aaaahh, Nightmare Larvae…
Ancient Chinese Secret!
Fantastic ideas which make the process very doable but impressive when done.
It’s too late for the witches shelves as it is only 4 days to Halloween at time of writing, but Iam definately going to have a crack at the jars!
I just wanted to thank DeadSpider for all of your help. I had a Halloween birthday party for my 8yo this past Friday night. We have a huge garage that we converted into a haunted house. The man we bought the house from was a real “do-it-yourself” kind of guy he had a pit placed in the floor so that he could change his own oil. So we made that into a dungeon. We placed a 5′ skeleton down there with some rats and chains and a little to make it super creepy. My sister dressed up as a fortune teller and read the girls palms and did a tarot card reading. This was a huge hit with the girls. We had several other games as well. I made up a Witche’s Apothecary in one corner and I am not sure who enjoyed it the most the kids or the adults. I also used some pearl onions and labled them Eye of Newt. Thank you again for your ideas.
I was wondering what liquid you used to fill the bottles? I was worried that just water would start to mold. Thanks in advance. I love these. =]
Aimee – so glad I could inspire and help you!
Hi Lily, just sent you an email.
I’m also wondering what the various liquids are, particularly the ones that appear to have a bit (to a lot) of viscosity. I have some guesstimations and suppositions, but like Lily, I’m worried about rot or mold (which could look cool as it progresses, but yanno).
Hi arana I too have attempted to make my own bottles for a halloween party and they turned out great, however after a couple of weeks the mixture inside of water and food colouring changed colour and became stale. Also i couldn’t find a way to make the mixture as thich as i would like. How do you achieve your colours and thickness in your ingredients?
thank you
tommy
What a wonderful site. I have made Filled hutches in miiature and a pumpkin room box for a witch’s shop. If you need little jars in glass less than 1″ tall email me
Where did you find the brain toys? They are so real looking. If this is a super secret don’t worry.
Arana -
I am a big fan of this site. We will be holding our 3rd annual Halloween party this year in the states. I plan on getting your labels to make potion bottles. I was wondering if you could give some more ideas as to what to use as content? Such as the brains and how to make the fingers.
this really came in handy!me and my cousin were talking about making a potion with the big jar i have …thanks
[...] Witch Kitchen | AranaMuerta.com Not finding much about what to do with cabinets. The only idea I would have is to remove all the doors on the cabinets and remove whatever is in them and decorate with home made witches potion bottles and all sorts of stuff. Could also cover all the cabinets with a sort of curtain and make your own shelving (kinda what one of the pics looks like in the above link). __________________ Purely and simply evil [...]
you are a breath of fresh air for my Haloween projects this year. Thank you , Thank you, Thank you.
Wow. Thanks Traci!
I hope you are inspired to create something wonderfully spooky! …. I ought to go make some ‘new stuff’ to add to this blog though.
Please Please add new stuff. I have your page saved now and will be hoping to see anything new you add. I am going to attempt something along the lines of the witches kitchen. It might turn out a little more like a mad lab. If the results are ok I will share….
is there someway that i can make these labels water proof?
You could make them more water resistant, using a poly-type sealer over them.
Many thanks for the cauldron tutorial. However there’s one thing neither you of Bob Andrews mentioned and that’s how to make the fake potion. I wonder what you used to cover the colored lights inside the cauldron.
Franky
LOVE LOVE LOVE the witches kitchen… this is the perfect idea for our party theme this year. I have hired out a psychic and we are transforming our home… already working on the details now… as one can’t start too late… I have started collecting my bottles for my potions and have begun making several of them … but I too am running into the concern for mold and the “consistency” of the fluids, any additional advice would be appreciated.
try using suspension shower gel that is clear. I will not mold and give a slime effect.
Can color with food coloring.
Can be bought on-line for as little as 15.00 a gallon.
I have a bath and body products business and last year we worked the Pumpkin Festival in Seymour, CT that had a Halloween theme.
Worked well enough to help us get third place last year. This year we try for first!!
Hope this info is not too late! Good luck!
For the thick liquids, I have been using cheap tubs of clear hair gel from the 99 cent store. I water it down with rubbing alcohol to avoid mold issues. It works great and you can color it with cheap acrylic paint for a more opaque look, and food coloring for a more transparent look.
I made my first attempt at the jellyfish stingers last night and it came out amazing. For anyone else wanting to make this prop, here is a quick tip: I discovered that if you spray a ceramic plate with Crisco, Pam, or a similar cooking spray, you can easily peel up the strands without them sticking to the plate. Hope this tip helps. Happy Haunting!
these are soooo coool – TFS – i am going to have to collect some bottles now
Great witches kitchen and ideas for the potions, but my question (like Franky’s)is, what did you used to cover the colored lights inside the cauldron? How did you make your bubbles or is it a bubble machine? I love it!! Also, what did you use for your thicker potions? Please help!!!
Hope for a speedy recovery. Be Well….God bless.