Witch's Apothecary by Cindi McGee

Witch's Apothecary

Designed by Cindi McGee

I love Halloween!  I love the silly, spooky fun, the costumes, and the creepy decorations.  A friend had given me some of his mother's perfume bottles after she passed away, and I thought they'd be perfect to alter and transform to help decorate for Halloween!   With the help of Makin's Clay®, and etchall® etching cream, those bottles, and a couple of empty medication bottles, came together to create this Witch's Apothecary complete with a bat display tray!   

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Green, Olive, Black, White, Merlot, Neon Green

                        - Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder™

                - Texture Sheets Set D

                - Cutting Mat

                - Clay Tools 

DecoArt® -  Metallic Lustre™ - Gold Rush 

        - Americana Decor® Chalky Finish Paint - Relic, Carbon 

Glass perfume bottles

etchall® Etching Cream 

Black permanent marker 

JudiKins™ Diamond Glaze™ 

Blumenthal Lansing™ spider button 

Beacon® Tacky Glue, 3-in-1 Adhesive 

Tim Holtz® Idea-ology® letters 

Unfinished Wood Company™ wooden bat 

Loew-Cornell™ Simply Art paint brush

Jute twine

Instructions:

Frog Eyes

Roll Green clay using clay roller until about 1/8” thick.  Place bottle on side on rolled clay, use tool to cut around bottle.  Repeat for reverse side.  

Apply small amount of Beacon® 3-in-1 Adhesive over sides and apply clay.  

Use fingers to gently transfer texture from cobblestone texture sheet to clay.

Use fingers to gently blend and smooth textured clay.  The finished result is just a touch of texturing, to more closely mimic frog skin. 

Cut jute twin strips and use 3-in-1 to glue to sides of bottle. 

Wrap jute twine around top of bottle using 3-in-1 to hold in place.  

Mix small amount of neon green clay with green clay to create marbled green.  Roll into ball and flatten to make disc about 1/2"across.  

Use black permanentt marker to make pupil in eye. 

Glue eye to center of bottle using 3-in-1.  

Coat clay surfaces of bottle with JudiKins™ Diamond Glaze™.

Grave Dirt

Remove lid from medicine bottle.  Apply black clay directly to bottle with fingers for an uneven effect.  

Impress plastic lettering into fresh clay to spell out “grave dirt”.  Let dry 24 hours.  (Thanks to my “Fairy Craftmother” for sending me these letters in a recent surprise box…. you know who you are…!) 

Randomly apply “Relic” Chalky Finish paint to surface with paper towel - do not cover entire surface.  While paint is still wet, rub to remove in some areas.  Let dry. 

Apply small amount of cocoa brown Americana® Multi-Surface Satin™ paint over surface and around letters with a paper towel.  While wet, rub to remove most of paint and just leave a touch in grooves around letters, 

etc.  Let dry. 

Trace top of bottle onto cork sheets.  Cut enough cork circles to stack and create faux “stopper” for bottle.  Use 3-in-1 to attach layers of cork and then attach to top of bottle. 

  

Spider Legs

Remove lid from medicine bottle.  Mix small amount of black clay with white clay to create grey.  Cover bottle with clay with fingers for an uneven effect.

Impress spider button onto fresh clay to make spider image.  Remove button. 

Use clay tool to write “spider legs” in fresh clay. 

Cover lid of bottle with clay, create small clay “rock” and add to top of lid.   Let dry 24 hours. 

Use paper towel to apply small amount of  Carbon Chalky Finish™ Paint to bottle.  While wet, use paper towel tor remove some of the paint, allowing it to remain in the impressed areas and on some areas of the surface.  

Snake Oil

Remove cover from bottle.  Apply etchall® cream and let set 15 minutes.  Return cream to bottle and rinse to clean.  Let dry. 

Paint lid with Relic Chalky Finish paint. Let dry.  (This bottle had a row of crystals on the bottle itself, I also painted those).  

Mix equal parts Green and Olive clay together.   Insert into Ultimate Clay Extruder™ and extrude using  Disc #40 (oval) from Ultimate Extruder Discs Set B. 

Wrap around bottle, coiling so head and top of body cover the crystals on the bottle.  Use Tacky Glue to hold in place.  

While clay is still fresh, use scales texture sheet to texture snake. 

Create tongue with Merlot clay, add to snake.   Let dry 24 hours.  

Use fingers to gently add a touch of Gold Rush Metallic Lustre to snake. 

Use permanent marker to add eyes to snake.

Dragon Tears

Use black permanent marker to write “DRAGON TEARS” on bottle.  

Apply etchall® cream.  Let set 15 minutes, return cream to bottle and rinse to clean. Rub at the marker lettering tor remove it from the bottle.  Let dry.  

Use JudiKins™ Diamond Glaze™ to make teardrops on sides of bottle around writing.  (Tip - Lay bottle on the side, and apply tears a few at a time to prevent running while drying.)

This bottle had a big gold plastic bow on the cover - which just would not work for the finished project.  I used pliers to gently break away the plastic bow from the cover. 

Mix equal parts Green and Olive clay.  

Use fingers to apply clay to cover of bottle. 

Use scale texture sheet to texture clay. 

Using Disc #31, extude strip of green clay and wrap around stem/top of bottle.   Use fingers to apply light coat of Gold Rush Metallic Lustre™ to cover and clay on rim of bottle.   

Bat Tray 

 

To create bat try to display your bottles, paint unfinished wooden bat with Carbon Chalky Finish™ paint and let dry. 

Make 4 small balls of black Makin's Clay® about 3/4" across.   

Use 3-in-1 adhesive to to mount balls to back of tray to create feet for tray to stand on.