Specimen Jar Apothecary
Turn your kitchen or living room shelving into a mad scientist’s laboratory or a medieval apothecary with homemade specimen jars. This project allows for endless creativity as you curate a collection of bizarre, preserved curiosities. Gather assorted glass bottles, jars, and vials, then age them by swabbing a small amount of brown acrylic paint or tea stain onto the glass to give them a dusty, antique appearance.
Fill the jars with water tinted with food coloring—shades of murky green, amber, and pale yellow work best. Submerge unusual items such as plastic spiders, faux eyeballs, rubber snakes, plastic skeleton hands, or even strange plastic botanicals. Finish the look by designing custom, distressed paper labels with names like “Essence of Toadstool,” “Bat Wings,” or “Werewolf Venom,” and singe the edges of the paper with a lighter for an authentic, aged texture.