How to Make Frosted Potion Bottles
Looking to elevate your next themed party?
Or, maybe, you are trying to achieve a mythical aesthetic.
Or, perhaps, you just collecting glass jars!
What ever your motives are, creating beautiful, realistic potion bottles are easier than you think!
Potions Class-Inspired Bottles…
I love magical things. And second to Christmas (I know cliche), Halloween is my next favorite holiday to decorate for!
I’m more into the whimsical/fun Halloween decor versus the scary/gory decorations.
And for years, I’ve wanted a set of potions bottles.
I even collect glass jars, much to my husband’s irritation, with the intent of turning them into potion bottles.
So when I came across the Harry Potter Craft Book, I was delighted to see that they had instructions for making a set of realistic potion bottles!
But I wanted to do the bottles in a few different ways because 1. I’m complicated and 2. I like multiple aesthetics.
So, I set out to create a variety of potions bottles for you. I settled on 3 different versions: clear, frosted, and tinted.
I used the Harry Potter Craft Book to create the frosted bottles that I will be talking about in this blog.
You’ll have to let me know which one is your favorite!
Let’s get started!
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List of Supplies:
Makes; Multiple Jars
Estimated time: Frosted-20 minutes plus 2-hour dry time
Skill Level: Beginner (Kid-friendly project) for all bottles
Frosted:
White Elmers glue
Acrylic paint in various colors (I used brown, pearl pink, green, and gold)
Paintbrushes
Paint palate or someplace to mix paint and glue (I used a paper plate)
Popsicle sticks
How to make Frosted Potion Bottles
Step 1:
Gather supplies.
*This is a picture for both frosted and tinted bottles.
Step 2:
Mix glue and acrylic paint.
To do this, I poured glue and then added a dollop of acrylic paint. Then, I mixed it with a popsicle stick.
*This image shows a bit too much paint to glue ratio. You really only want to tint the glue with some paint. I recommend half the amount of acrylic paint shown.
**This little bit of paint/glue mixture can cover 3 small bottles.
Step 3:
Add a light coat of paint to the bottle.
To do this, I used two different brushes to see if they created streaking. I used a traditional paintbrush and a foam brush. In the end, both achieved a streak-free finish as long as the strokes didn’t have excess paint.
*Now, I varied my application of that glue/paint mixture from the instructions in the Harry Potter Craft Book. They suggested dabbing the paint on with some excess.
Step 4:
Let the bottles dry.
This image shows the jar with its corresponding paint. The bottle on the far right had a thick coat of the paint/glue mixture. I didn’t prefer this application and ended up redoing it.
The Harry Potter Craft Book also suggests dry brushing some gold or silver to the potion bottles for extra dimension.
I did that to the green bottle.
To to it, I dabbed my brush in gold paint. Then, I proceeded to dab my brush on a paper towel until I had only a little paint on my brush. Finally, I used this to brush small streaks onto my bottle.
That’s it!
Your Frosted Potion Bottles are complete!
Top Tips…
DO NOT get these bottles wet! Since the base of this project is water-based, the paint will wash off with even the slightest bit of water.
If you don’t like how your paint turned out, wash it off! I ended up washing the blue bottle off and painting it pink!
If you want a plain frosted bottle, then I would mix a little white paint with the glue. I know this sounds redundant (glue is white), but glue dries clear and you won’t have that frosted look if you don’t tint the glue.
I attempted to do this same process using Mod Podge Dishwasher Safe glue and the results were not the same. The color did not absorb correctly and the jar was full of streaks!
What I would do differently…
Overall, I am really pleased with how these turned out. I really enjoyed the happy accident of getting a bottle wet and finding out that I can redo a bottle if necessary!
The only downside is that I would want to find a way to seal these bottles without ruining their look. I don’t think an acrylic sealer would work for this because it would create an unwanted shine or matte that would deter from the aesthetic.
I would be willing to try a coat of dishwasher-safe Mod Podge to see if that worked; however, after my attempt to paint them with this adhesive, I’m not sure of the final results. I think it would also add an undesired shine.
In the end, I am ecstatic with the final look of these bottles! I hope you make yourself a set that you love as much as I love mine!
I really hope you enjoyed this make! If you did please consider subscribing to my newsletter, so you never miss a new project!
Remember, if you make these bottles following this tutorial, use the #darkkflurdesigns so I can see your creations!
Until next time, happy crafting!
