Mini Magic Potions

As you might remember from some of my previous blog posts, I enjoy visiting estate sales. The sales are sometimes a lesson in history, or a view into a different person's world. You never know what you'll find. I found some amazing little items at the last sale! I picked up these mini reproduction Wheaton bottles and this color changing gem. I love how this lot ended up being color coordinated.

Would you believe I snagged all four of these items for only $1.00 total? I've seen people trying to sell these mini bottles for $20+ a piece on ebay. Part of the great deal came from shopping on the last day of the sale. As you estate sale shoppers know, most sales will offer 50% off everything that is left on the last day. These prices were actually about 75% off, but I think the guy just didn't want to carry all that glass away.

I cannot impress upon you how much glass was in this house. My mom and I hit the sale on the first day and the house was loaded with it. That and elephant statues. There were probably thousands of elephants in this house. Colored glass lined the windows and shelves in every room. Most of the pieces still carried their Goodwill price tags, so we could tell where the previous homeowner liked to shop. She may have been binge buying glass bottles and elephants but I think this lady really enjoyed what she bought. I just got a sense of that from the way it was displayed. She came across as more of a collector than a hoarder.

If you look closely, you'll see a bit of my camera reflected in this jewel.

You really do get an idea of who people are/were from their belongings. Sometimes it can feel sad or even creepy to enter an estate sale house. My mom had some trouble breathing with all the bottles around her. I will say that while it was pretty, it felt like the walls of bottles/elephants were closing in on us. I guess the homeowner was comfortable with it.

Shopping estate sales also makes you consider the way you shop or collect. Another mother and daughter were fighting in one of the glass filled rooms. The mother thought her daughter would turn out like the previous homeowner based on her shopping habits. The daughter said it was different with her because she "only collected the good stuff not stuff from Goodwill".  It's not the first time I've heard people say things about the person who lived in a house and how they don't want to turn out that way. Most people probably have more things than they are aware of. It makes you think twice as you take away more stuff from a person who had accumulated so much. I couldn't feel too bad collecting yet more bottles since these are only about 3" in size and I had a purpose in mind for them!

The large Ball and Claw Bitters bottle that is already part of my collection

Some of you might remember my full sized Ball and Claw Bitters bottle from this post: Potions and Poisons. Well, I was so pumped to find a mini one! Like the larger bottle, this little guy will be part of the witch potion display this Halloween. The one with the church window type shapes on it is actually labeled "Church Brand INK" and the other looks like it has a Benjamin Franklin portrait on it with his name partially worn off. The bottles are labeled either Wheaton N.J. © or Made in Taiwan. This means they're all reproduction bottles, but even so they're vintage. These bottles were probably made in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

See the church window design and the faint Ben Franklin head?

After seeing many cool bottle labels online, I felt inspired to decorate these bottles with some spooky labels of my own. Here's what I put together:

The bottles in these pictures look a lot larger than they actually are. As I said before, they only stand about 3" high. I had to string the tags on with a needle and thread because string seemed too heavy. The little leaves were left from the CD package Heidi sent me last year. Those with a really great memory might remember seeing them with these acorns I painted. The tiny rhinestone on the leaf came from a set of adhesive backed rhinestones from Michaels. The star is one of those old stickers like you might get on a school paper. You can see a hint of a clear leaf bead behind the tag. I thought this bottle was a good fit for "Swamp Water" because it resembles a water jug and is that nice, swampy green.

It's a little hard to see it, but above the "Dragon's Breath" tag is a bead that looks just like a reptilian eye. You might have to enlarge some of these pictures to see the details. I thought a dragon theme was perfect for this bottle, because the bottle's shape could be seen as a dragon's claw. The green sequin at top also made me think of an eye or scale.

This seemed like the perfect bottle for "Graveyard Dust" because it reminded me of stained glass church windows. Churches and graveyards are connected in my mind. There is of course a skull bead strung on this one and the silver flecks of glitter are supposed to resemble the dust.

Here they are together. I can't wait to display these with the larger bottles this year. I have to wonder what the previous owner of these bottles would think. Her collection of what appeared to be hundreds of bottles has been split up and is now sprinkled into many people's homes. She had so much that she may have even forgotten what she had. I'd like to think she'd be happy that these have been repurposed and will be on display this Halloween. As estate items go, I think these bottles have been given a fun new life.