These spooky bottles are a great way to upcycle old containers into some creepy Halloween decorations
Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. I can make everything black and spooky, and it fits into the rest of the decorations around the house! And spooky decorations seemed like the perfect way to upcycle bottles!
This project has been on my mind for some time. I have so many extra bottles and I wanted to find a good use for them. I always like the idea of upcycling as it takes some pressure off the recycling system. And that system is already far from perfect. So let’s start by making some spooky bottles!
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more unlimited ideas. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and how the craft works for you!
Supplies
There was a surprising number of materials that went into making this project. I gathered the following supplies:
- Bottles to be Upcycled
- Adhesive Remover, if needed
- Muslin Cloth
- Paper Towels
- Decoupage Medium, i.e., modge podge or something similar
- Baking Soda
- Black Spray Paint
- White and Red Glitter Powder
- Bits and bobs for decorations (gears, wings, antlers, whatever works)
- Hot Glue Gun
Process
Prepping the Bottles
The bottles needed to be prepped before they could be decorated. I felt it would be easier to work with a uniform surface. This majorly helps control the aesthetic.
But I didn’t stop to think if the smooth plastic would be easier for the material to stick to. Luckily this ended up being a non-issue.
The first step was removing all parts of the label that I could without using any tools. Just my nails and some elbow grease. This removed about 50 percent of the label. And mainly the top layer.
To make the bottle smooth, I sprayed a generous amount of adhesive remover on the remaining label and let it soak in for about ten to twenty minutes. When I went to remove the remaining label, the whole thing came off in once piece. It was amazing! I wish all labels were that easy to take off.
Adding Decorations
Now it’s onto the best part of the project; decorating the spooky bottles! The core of my decorations was paper towels, muslin cloth, and a decoupage medium. Using the decoupage medium and a brush, I brush on ripped pieces of the muslin cloth and paper towel onto each bottle.
I felt like these would give each bottle some needed texture. It sounds weird especially since I just removed all the texture from the bottle, but this is controlled texture. I really love the look the muslin gave to the piece. It was like a webbing.
The paper towel also added more texture than I anticipated. It created a dimple like effect which looked really good against the bottle. I also wanted to add a wax dripped effect on the bottles. To create this, I mixed about ¼ cup of decoupage medium with about 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
The baking soda adds a thickness to the mixture which allows it to coagulate and create those candle drips. Then I added on individual decorations using a hot glue gun to fasten the bits and bobs to each bottle.
Painting
The last step of this project was painting the bottle. To start, I spray painted each of the bottles with a glossy black spray paint. I wanted each bottle to have a uniform base. The inside and outside were fully sprayed.
Then I used white and red glitter to paint spots on each bottle. I used a small brush and try to highlight certain areas, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. But I think these spooky bottles look great!!
Reflections
This was a fun project that upcycled some of my bottles and created great Halloween decorations! It took more effort than I had originally thought it would but I really loved the outcome.
Lessons
Painting with Glitter
Painting with glitter is much harder than I expected. For one, I didn’t really know how well it was going to stick to the surface. Luckily, glitter powder really wants to stick to everything. It is glitter after all.
Definitely use a small brush and take your time. Getting too much glitter onto the brush will just end up in a glitter cloud and you’ll have no control over the final product.
Quick Recipe
Decorative Spooky Bottles
Equipment
- Adhesive Remover
- Hot Glue Gun
Materials
- 4 Bottles
- Muslin Cloth
- Paper Towels
- Decoupage Medium i.e., modge podge
- 2 Tablespoon Baking Soda
- Glossy Black Spray Paint
- Glitter powder white and red
- Bits and Bobs for decorations gears, wings, antlers, whatever works!
Instructions
- Clean bottles to have a smooth surface. Use adhesive remover as needed.
- Using a decoupage medium, apply the muslin cloth and paper towels as desired.
- Mix together approximately ¼ cup of decoupage medium and 2 tablespoons of baking soda together. Carefully drip mixture along the top edge of the bottles to create imitation wax drips.
- Using a hot glue gun, add any desired bits and bobs.
- Spray paint bottles with a glossy black spray paint.
- Use white and red glitter powder to create highlights on each bottle.