Mini Potion Bottles Using Hot Glue!

Hi guys!

I don't have a good reason to make miniature potion bottles - but they're just so cute! And they're pretty cheap and fun to make. So let's get started!

*matching Youtube video coming soon*

1. hot glue sticks
2. candle
3. silicone or baking paper
4. scissors
5. water-based markers
6. school glue
7. paintbrush
8. clear nail polish
9. pin needles
10. paper
11. superglue
12. colored pencils, fineliners, etc.
13. acrylic paint

Optional:

1. glue gun
2. toothpicks
3. craft foam
4. wire
5. a fork (if you're confused, look at step 5)

First, I'll show you how I made the lip/collar/neck of the bottle.

Squeeze some hot glue onto either silicone or baking paper and press it flat.

Then grab a pair of scissors and cut out a tiny circle. Pierce that circle through the center with a pin needle and set that aside for later.

Now it's time to light a candle. Not just for the ambience: We will use it to shape hot glue sticks.

I'll begin with a small glue stick. I want to round one end of it by holding it above the candle and rotating it.

When it's hot enough, move it away from the candle, use gravity to shape the glue and let it cool down.

Now we will use the little disc we made earlier.

Heat the glue stick up again and attach the disc. You can try to stretch the neck if you want. It's sometimes hard to make it symmetrical, but that's okay.

In order for this to work, you don't want the glue to be too hot and not too cold.

About safety:

We want to heat the glue gently to avoid creating toxic fumes. You definitely don't want to see smoke. In general, please do this in a well-ventilated area or even wear a respirator mask if you want to be extra safe.

When it has cooled down, you can cut the stick with a craft knife.

You can leave the bottom like that (sometimes it's better to just leave it) or hold it over the candle and place it on a flat piece of silicone to make the bottom smoother.

Now when it's a big glue stick, it's a bit harder to make the end round. So I like to heat it up, take another glue stick and press both sticks together so I can pull the glue into a rounder shape.

Then I heat it up again and add the little hot glue disc to create a neck..

The rest of the steps are the same as with a small glue stick!

To color the bottles, I first painted them with water-based markers.

Then I added school glue with a paintbrush and tried to spread the pigment evenly. To let that dry, I hung the bottles (with the needles still inside) onto forks. I know, it's the height of technology.

Unfortunately, the glue can peel off easily, so you need to seal it in with something like clear nail polish. And let it dry again.

You can accidentally create interesting bottle shapes. In the first picture, you can see a glue stick that I heated up too much, which then turned into a drop. It became a wine bottle in the end.

If you find super clear gluesticks, you can create super clear bottles.

One way I made toppers for my bottles was to use a thin strip of paper. I used glue to roll it up into a tiny cork topper and tore off the end so it blends in. Then I used acrylic paint. Lastly, you just need to attach the cork to the bottle with superglue.

You can also cut out a piece of craft foam for a lid or use a hole punch.

Or you can chop up a toothpick and jam it straight into the hot glue.

To make labels, I used normal paper, colored pencils and fineliners. But you could print labels as well.

I used school glue to attach the labels.

Lastly, to make a pendant, I made an eyepin with a topper and disc already attached. I then pushed it into the hot end of a gluestick. It was a slight challenge to center the eyepin, but it doesn't have to be completely perfect.

And there you go! Maybe I should make more miniature items, cause this was fun.

I hope you like this idea!