The coffin bottle I've been looking for!

As most of you know, my mom and I like shopping at estate sales. Yesterday we went to one of these sales and found something great! As my mom and some of you knew, I've been really wanting a certain miniature bottle I've seen online. I have a collection of Wheaton reproduction bottles, mostly miniature ones. You might remember them from these past posts:

Potions and Poisons

Mini Magic Potions

The one I'd been dreaming of adding to my collection was this skull-and-crossbones miniature poison bottle.

So we were in the house's basement and my mom pointed out a box full of Wheaton miniatures. I excitedly picked through and found what I'd been wanting! This time the bottle cost $1.00. Won't it look cute set out with the others this Halloween?

From what I've seen online, these little coffin bottles were available in ruby, blue, topaz, and green. I'm happy with my ruby red bottle. It's a blood-red which seems perfect for a poison bottle. Some of the coffin bottles have wreaths on the back. Mine has R.I.P and then "Use with care Patented". The wreath option comes in green and amethyst purple from what I've seen. The purple is really pretty too!

I did a little googling to learn more about the little bottle and found this site:

The Wheaton Coffin Corner

There are some nice spooky thunder noises there. I learned from this site that my little coffin bottle was made in 1971.

I also learned that there's a little bottle in the shape of a skull and also a larger version of my coffin bottle. The larger one is 5.5" tall while mine is 3". So now I'll have to keep my eyes open for the larger one!

My little cabin in the woods

After seeing quite a few cute Halloween terrariums online, I decided to make one for myself. I headed off to Dollar Tree to get a little round fishbowl type container and some natural/spray painted moss. The container I bought was small, with only a 3.5" opening. I quickly realized that I wouldn't have room for much more than the moss in this container!

Still, it was cool and only cost $1.00. I next went to a JoAnn's Fabrics/Crafts store in hopes of finding a much wider container. I found a wide bowl that only cost a few bucks after a lucky sale and a coupon. This container has a 6.5" opening. That sure beats 3.5"!

I had been thinking of building a little graveyard scene, but that idea seemed sad as I started assembling it. I decided it would be more fun to build a little house in this swampy scene and have some creepy thing stalking around it. Plus, I could have a light element. I gave some thought to what could be the source of light and decided the easiest thing to use would be a battery operated tea light candle. I measured the candle and built a house frame out of cardboard. The little cabin ended up being essentially free since I used an empty Kleenex box.

 

After measuring and bending it to my specifications, I stapled it together. Then I got to adding the little "logs" to the exterior. The logs are .25" high and 2" long, for anyone who is wondering. I put some Elmer's glue on the walls and started adding my logs. I did the same for the roof. After these pieces dried, I textured a little acrylic paint over the whole thing. I was going for a wood-like effect, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

 

The little candle adds a nice glow from inside.

After making my little cabin, I decided the scene needed some trees. I looked online for tutorials on how to make miniature trees and found this simple, instructive video:



How about that? You can make your own little birch trees from twigs you've found! Here are mine:

I kept them sturdy by sticking them in some floral foam.

There are plenty of other tree making tutorials online, but some require tools and more supplies. Most of these tutorials seem to be for model makers.

All in all, this project ended up costing around $3.00 (not including the cost of a Kleenex box and the floral foam and paint I already had). Some additions will probably be made to the scene as Halloween approaches. I think it would be fun to add a little werewolf behind the trees. I like that I can decorate the cabin for different holidays.

As for the little round glass bowl, I considered Modge-Podging some orange tissue paper in it. I ended up liking the tissue I placed in there with no glue. I like that this is temporary, so I can add different colors for different occasions. I think a number of these glowing orbs could look cool lining a walkway or a table for a party.

I wish you could see the candle flickering inside, because that really adds something. The glass takes on the look of a round flame. You could also put some fake flowers in the top and have a glowing vase.

I had a lot of fun decorating these glass containers. I had to stretch my skills to work small. Even with the larger container, my terrarium is busting at the seams! I'm happy to have learned how to make little birch trees and I know I will go on to make more cardboard houses in the future.

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.