DIY Miniature Cauldron With a Spooky Potion That Glows

I thought it would be cool to try working with LED's in my miniature to make them light up, and this was the perfect opportunity!

The inside of the cauldron is hollow, and it can open up so you can turn the light on and off. The soup looks very realistic when it is glowing and when it is not, and does not use resin. This is an simple and amazing project that would look right at home in a spooky dollhouse!

Supplies

• Black polymer clay
• Bronze, purple, and light blue pigment
• Polymer clay adhesive
• Black acrylic paint
• Gold wire
• Tea light (or aluminum foil)
• Dragonfly light string
• LED
• Small LED battery
• Clay glaze
• Optional: small glass or plastic beads

Tools

• Round metal object (clay tool)
• Exacto-knife
• Clay tools (most of these could probably be substituted for beads, and other household items)
• Brush
• Toaster oven
• Needle
• Sand paper
• Wire cutters
• Pliers
• Scissors
• Hot glue and hot glue sticks
• Tacky glue

To begin sculpting the base, roll out a piece of black polymer clay until it is about two millimeters thick. Then, find a completely metal sphere-shaped object that is the size you want your cauldron to be. (I found a clay tool that was about ___ in circumference, and cut off the rubber grip that was on it's handle.) Begin to wrap the piece of clay around the metal object, and cut off all the extra clay using an exacto-knife so half of the sphere is covered. Use a smaller round bead or clay tool to make little dents in the clay for texture.

Use a brush to coat the clay in bronze pigment and bake for ten minutes in a toaster oven.

After you have baked the base, carefully pop it off your circular metal object.

Put three dots of polymer clay adhesive on the bottom of the base where each of the three legs will go, and then shape the legs out of polymer clay. I made mine simple cone shapes, but you can do something more detailed if you want! Place the legs on the dots of clay adhesive, and smooth out the seam where they join.

Finally, brush the legs in bronze pigment, and bake for five minutes in a toaster oven.

Roll out a piece of black polymer clay, and cut a ribbon out of it with the width of about three millimeters. Wrap the ribbon around the top of the base so that half of it is above the top of the base, and the other half is attached to the base. Smooth out the area where the two ends of the ribbon meet.

Roll two small pieces of black polymer clay into balls, and use a needle to poke a hole through each of them. Attach them to the ribbon of clay so the holes are parallel to the cauldron base.

Brush with bronze pigment and bake in a toaster oven for five minutes.

To sculpt the top half of the cauldron, roll out a piece of black polymer clay until it is about two millimeters thick. Then, begin to wrap the piece of clay around your metal object, and cut off all the extra clay using an exacto-knife so half of the sphere is covered. Cut a circle out of the center of the clay using an exacto-knife (you can use the cap of a marker to trace to make sure your circle is even. Roll out another piece of black polymer clay, and cut a ribbon out of it that has a width of about a quarter of an inch. Attach this around the circle in the clay. You can wrap a thin snake of clay around the seam between the two pieces, and smooth it out to make the seam be stronger, and disappear.

Brush with bronze pigment and bake the top half of the cauldron in a toaster oven for ten minutes.

Sand the top half until it fits snugly in the bottom half. Polymer clay is a little bit flexible, so if you keep the top half a tiny bit bigger than the bottom half, then you should be able to pop them together, and they will not come apart unless you take them apart.

If you feel like the sanded area is too much of a different color, you can paint the area with black acrylic paint. Once the paint is about halfway dried, brush the area in bronze pigment.

For the handles, take a piece of thin gold wire and wrap it around a cylindrical object that is about the size of a pencil (or you could use a pencil!) Slide the wire off, and use wire cutters to cut off all of the extra wire. Flatten the part of the ring where the opening is using pliers (look at the fifth picture for reference), and paint the wire black. (It is okay if the black rubs off in some places, because the cauldron already has bronze pigment on it that will be a similar color to the gold wire.)

Open up the ring, and slide both ends into the little piece of polymer clay with a hole in that sticks out of the middle of the cauldron. Press it shut. Repeat all of these steps to make the handle for the other side.

I used the metal holder that most tea lights/candles come in for my ladle (I also tried using thicker aluminum foil, but this breaks a lot more easily.)

Cut a square out of the metal that is about an inch big, and press it on a rolled out piece of polymer clay that is similarly sized. (The clay just makes it easier to make indents in the metal, and is not actually part of the lade so it can be scrap clay of any color.) Use a medium-sized, round clay tool to gently press it into the metal. Be very slow and careful, and keep going untill you have a hemisphere-shaped depression. (This may take a few tries, because if you press too hard the metal will break.) Flip the piece of metal over, and use a very small, circular clay tool to make a depression in the shape of the ladle's handle. Flip the piece of metal over again, and carefully cut the lade out using scissors. Finally, bend the handle upward, and if you want to make your ladle less likely to break, dab a dot of superglue at the base of the handle, where it bends.

I have these dragonfly string lights, on amazon there are many similar lights that would work the same way, just search "dragonfly string lights." You could also probably find things like it in crafts stores like Micheal's or Hobby Lobby.

Pull a blue dragonfly off the sting of lights, and cut off it's wings and head. Take an LED light, and bend so it looks like the first and second picture. Make sure the LED fits into the dragonfly, and then take it back out. Hot glue the dragonfly in the top of the cauldron so the tail sticks straight out the top. Hot glue the ladle at an angle to the top of the tail.

Fill the area around dragonfly inside the cauldron with tacky glue, and put a little bit of tacky glue inside of the ladle. Brush some tacky glue on the tail so the bumps are less visible. If you want to make the cauldron have bubbles in it, you can submerge small glass or plastic beads halfway in the tacky glue in the basin part. Let the glue dry completely.

Mix a small amount of light blue pigment with polymer clay glaze (you could also continue using tacky glue), and also mix a small amount of purple pigment with clay glaze. Use a brush to coat all of the tacky glue with the light blue mixture, and add highlights with the purple.

To make splashes around where the water enters the cauldron, spread a thin layer of tacky glue or clay glaze (I tried them both, they both work) on a stone, plastic, or metal surface and wait for it to dry. Use an exacto-knife to scrape it off, and tear it into small pieces. Press the pieces into the area around the stream of water.

Good job, your finished! When I want the light to be on, I just tape it in place. I am sure there is a better way to do this, and if you have any ideas please write them in the comments!