Different Ways to Seal a (small) Glass Bottle

If you are anything like me, you have probably dabbled in more than one type of craft in your lifetime, and at this point have a large variety of materials around, then my experiments will be a fun thing for you to recreate. If you are a normal person and don't have the desire to try everything under the sun then my results are for you!

I got really into making witches potions, like, really into making witches potions. One thing I like to use, however, is reclaimed materials, which include thrift and found jars. I found a pack of salt shakers that I thought would make brilliant potion bottles, unfortunately.... salt shakers aren't known for being waterproof... and I now had like, twenty of them. So, I went on an adventure to find a solution to my problem.

This is a project that took me MONTHS. so unfortunately, I do not have pictures for every step along the way, but I do have some recreations.

corks

rubber stoppers

hot glue

scissors

thick garbage plastic

salt shakers

liquid or something to keep inside of the jars would be helpful.

locking hole plugs

giant cork

silicone caulk

dollar tree caulk

UV resin

black light

paper towel

oogoo- silicone, mixing dish, gloves, food coloring, and cornstarch

popsicle sticks

pen / pencils

The first thing I tried was a good old fashion cork, I went to Lowe's, had a horrible time trying to figure out where the corks went, didn't know what size to get so I got a bag of each thinking I'll use them, and went on my merry way.

I shoved a cork in a bottle and it was okay, nothing to write home about. The corks were about 65 cents each though and even though that doesn't seem like a lot, you only get two in a pouch for a bit over a dollar, and you create so much waste buying each of the little baggies, not to mention I'd have to go to the store every couple of days and try to figure out how many baggies to get whenever I get the hankering to make a "potion".

I also found that the corks tended to leak, and some even had huge holes on the sides, making them almost useless for my uses.

I did find a giant bag of corks for wine bottles and tried to widdle it down to fit into the salt shakers, it looks atrocious, but it did work... I decided I didn't like that option very much.

Also, this option is removable and that is something I'm not sure I want in a lid, but it could be a benefit for someone else.

I recently found this cool item on a home depot trip! you get two (that fit my salt shakers) for around 60 cents, so about half the price of the corks, and it makes a flat top if that is something you are into. unfortunately, they aren't completely waterproof on their own, and they aren't a permanent solution, but they are pretty tough to get out.

They also have the same flaw for me as the corks, where I'd have to go to the store and determine how many I'd need and which sizes every time I wanted to do use them.

Now, if you are smarter than I, you'd know that hot glue on its own doesn't stick to glass.

I think I forgot that lesson when I was experimenting or something. I put at least a whole stick of glue around the lip of the bottle and still I couldn't get a watertight seal, although it may have been slightly permanent.

I did try a mixture of hot glue and cork and found that the two evened each other out making a pretty solid piece, that was way more waterproof and if it had a proper grip on the rings it wasn't going to simply slide off, making it semi-permanent, since it is easily pealed/ twisted off and put back on.

A mixture of hot glue and the locking hole plug would make an even more permanent lid, but should still be removable with a little work.

I did try hot glue for the following methods but found no success.

Oogoo is what comes up if you search "DIY jar lids" or something similar, I was on the hunt for something similar to this instructable for a long, long time. I accidentally used silicone II when I made my oogoo, so it didn't turn out right, and when I finally got silicone I, I just thought oogoo was kind of gross after all my failed attempts. Because I tried, many... many.. times before I realized my mistake.

There is actually an instructable at https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/, and I watched a youtube video on how to make oogoo with the attached video, it's by a creator called Sepra designs and the video is called "DIY Seal Containers with Oogoo" if you'd like to look it up yourself. They are both super helpful in my opinion.

I liked the idea of being able to "twist" off the lid or to be able to pull it off, but overall I think the material is too finicky for me for such small pieces, although I will be trying it for larger lids that I can put in molds I think.

One day I was watching a video and someone was caulking their tub and I thought... caulk sticks to glass... my salt shakers are glass... Caulk is waterproof, my potions are liquid... this could work... but I want to go shopping, let's go to the dollar tree.

and thus, the dollar tree caulk idea was born. the idea is simple, put some caulk over the hole and smooth it out, make sure there are no gaps, flip the bottle upside down to double-check it's watertight, and leave it overnight. When I checked on it the next day it kind of sunk down a little, so I gave it a little more caulk and let it dry some more.

One day I was flipping through the TikyToky when I watched one of those shaker tumblers be made, they just put a sticker over the hole and put some UV resin on it, that's it!

Why can't I do that? I decided to go with some clear plastic from a piece of trash, thinking it would be stronger, and put a layer of resin on, then the plastic, cured it a few times, and put another layer of resin on making sure to get the sides and cured it a few times. my resin is known for being really tacky even after being cured multiple times and I didn't know if it was waterproof immediately after so I left it in the window for the rest of the day, but it came out waterproof!

Lexel, it's like the dollar store caulk, but clear, thicker, stinkier, and way more expensive in my opinion.
I tried to use it the same way I used the dollar store caulk but found it didn't spread the same way and felt gross wasting so much of it. so I have been using it similar to the UV resin, where I put a coat of caulk down a piece of plastic and then another coat of caulk down, this way is nice because you can immediately flip it over to see if it is waterproof. this method works well with the dollar store caulk as well.

the clear winner for me would be to use dollar store caulking with a piece of thick plastic, for less than a penny (probably I didn't actually do the math) you get a permanent waterproof solution.

If you are looking for a less permanent avenue I'd suggest cork and hot glue, it keeps a good seal and makes it more difficult for the cork to come out if you have sneaky hands (or in my case... paws.) trying to get your precious treasures...

For me, the appearance doesn't matter too much because I'm planning on covering it, but for someone else, this may be super helpful for coming up with their own ideas. Leave me a comment down below if you have ideas you would like me to try out next!