powerful potions.

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Our Halloween display was looking a bit bland this year, so Seth and I set out for the Op Shops and discovered four brilliant bottles, perfect for all manner of potions and brews.   They ranged in price from $2-6 NZD.  Once home, we filled them with bits and bobs we happened to have lying around the house.  The spider webbing is cotton balls pulled apart into long, wispy strands.  (I do not recommend stuffing the cotton balls in before de-balling, it looks ridiculous)    The fresh eyeballs were made according to this awesome tutorial by Jen at Epbot. 



We searched online for pre-made labels, and even found some really cool options, but none of them quite worked for the size and contents of our bottles.  Instead we took matters into our own hands and designed our own.  You can download our labels here to create your own private store!
We used a few different methods to age and colour the labels once they were printed out: tea, coffee grounds, and water colours.  I highly recommend testing out whatever method you decide to use on scrap paper before colouring your actual labels.  We had quite a few misfires as we tried to find the right style.


The teabag itself didn't work very well, but Seth reduced the tea down to a thick brew that was perfect for staining the edges of paper.  Just carefully dip the edges of the label for a distinguished look.  You can also carefully rip and scratch at the edges while the paper is wet if you want to try a worn look instead.


Coffee grounds make a mottled stain, but can also wear down the paper.  This may be what you want, but if you have any writing you'll want to be careful because the grounds can make it difficult to read.  Here you can see three different versions of the eyeball label, the one on the left was created using reduced tea, the two on the right used coffee grounds.


Keeping a hair dryer near by will make your work go faster.  It's good to have paper towels on hand as well, but using it to mop up wet spots will also suck up the stain.

 After the labels have dried apply them to your jars using Mod Podge.  Use a paint brush to apply a thin coat to the back of a label, then carefully place it onto the desired jar.   You can use the hair dryer to speed up this process as well.  Sometimes the label edges will stick up a bit depending on the shape of the bottle.  This happened to our Wishes jar which tapers off towards the top.  If this happens allow the largest part of the label to affix to the bottle, then carefully shape the rest of the label so it sticks.  This might result in some wrinkles, but they will just add to the character!

 Finally, if you want a polished look you can go over the top of the label with Mod Podge to create a nice, sleek, shiny label.

 Happy Haunting!

Credits:
All graphics created in Inkscape, a free and open source vector programme
Spider Webbing Label
Spiderweb Scroll: Graphics Fairy
Font: DK Okiku

Liquid Death Label
Font 1: Witches Magic
Font 2: Demon 
Skull, Crown, & Adornment: Veneer Extras

Wishes Label
Border Adapted from Love Manor
Font 2: DK Okiku 

Eyeballs Label
Font: Bodoni 72 Smallcaps

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