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DIY potion bottles for Halloween
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4.50 from 6 votes

DIY Potion Bottles

Learn how to make potion bottles for Halloween using recycled materials! This is one of the most popular pill bottle crafts.
Prep Time15 minutes
Active Time2 hours
Dry Time2 hours
Total Time4 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 6 bottles
Cost: $1

Equipment

Materials

Instructions

  • Use sandpaper to rough up the surface of the bottles before painting.
    Sanding old pill bottles
  • After the bottles are roughed up, add black to the base (you can spray paint). Paint the lids medium gray. The lids don't need to be roughed up because they will probably have textured ridges and printed letters on the top. Let dry.
    Painted pill bottles with black paint
  • Print out the pill bottle labels; cut or punch out. Place the labels on the bottles.
    Halloween potion bottle free printable labels
  • Seal the bottles with Mod Podge. This will prevent the labels from removing and the paint from chipping. Let dry.
    Poison XXX label for a potion bottle
  • Start distressing with the medium and light gray shades. Brush randomly with a stencil brush, layering, even going onto the label.
    Gray paint brushed onto the pill bottle
  • Do this with the lid as well. AND on the lid you'll want to add some of the FolkArt Painted Finishes - Rust. It gives texture and looks like blood/rust/some other identified substance.
    Painting a rust effect on the potion bottle lid
  • Add a little black paint to the top of the rust to age it even more. Let dry.
    Detail shot of the top of the lid with rust paint
  • Paint the entire bottle again with Mod Podge to seal. Let dry.

Notes

The painted finish gives texture and looks like blood/rust/some other identified substance. What a spooky touch!