Having spent some time filling bottles lately I then made the mistake of speculating about my stash of potion jars and bottles. I seemed to use quite a lot of bottles for the bar and the trays in which I keep my filled jars and glass ware were looking pretty empty.
This got me speculating about the apothecary shelves.........
......and such speculation quickly led to getting out one of the shelving units, which led to sorting through the jars, which led to sorting through labels and a whole week has come and gone!!
I went through all the filled jars I had not used in the witch house many moons ago and soaked off labels and cut off old lids and string.
I want each of the shelves to have matching labels and lids as I think Apothecary's should be very organised and I am totally OCD about tidy matching jars!!
This then led to a session on the computer planning matching labels for each shelf and looking up all the Harry Potter ingredients and potions. How can this take sooooo long!!
As you can see each shelf has has the same bottle but I have broken them up with a corner crate in which I will put special jars from artists like Nikki Rowe. I discovered, however, that this one unit used up most of my stash of jars so I have also spent time sourcing jars in quantity and for a reasonable price. In truth I would have loved to have been able to buy all hand blown with gorgeous glass lids but they all seem to be at least £3-4 each and I need a lot.
I found a couple of UK companies selling lovely jars in a variety of sizes: My Tiny World and TumDee Miniatures. Much cheaper ones are available on both Etsy: clothcampDIY and MixnMatch and Ebay: Goodthing4sell. Unfortunately these are outside Europe so if you live in the UK you will be at the mercy of the Post Offices's arbitrary £8.00 charge if your parcel gets pulled at customs.
So now I am thinking about lids for all these jars. I don't want them all to be cork or cloth. I tried today to make some plain black lids out of fimo like those in Snape's office....
....but I think my fimo was off as they all crumbled during making and baking. I am pretty rubbish with clay but I will buy some fresh as well as having a go with paperclay. My main problem seems to be once I get the clay thin enough I can never get it off the glass tile! Oh well, what's another week!!
Any lid inspiration will be gratefully received I have a few to go yet.
Paper clay would be much lighter in weight but I don't know if it would be nearly as tough.
ReplyDeleteThey make great flexible 6 inch x 1 inch blades that can go under the clay to get it off a surface once it has been rolled out (I usually roll the clay on glass). Then you could try dusting the surface with corn starch so while you cut the lids so it wouldn't stick so badly. That is just what I would try before I gave up on polymer clay.
Everything looks great BTW. :-))
Hi Catherine,
DeleteThe dusting trick sounds a great idea and seems to be used by a lot of people. I think my real problem was the age of the clay. Even after baking the pieces I made all crumbled so I will have to buy some new Fimo of I need black again.
Think card is the best way forward.
Te está quedando una estanteria mur bonita, comprendo el paso del tiempo en organizar y llenar tantos tarros.
ReplyDeleteYo vi esta foto por internet
https://picasaweb.google.com/109159550514802719346/1DeAgostoDe2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_Smq786K3jrAE#5795440546388226994
espero que te sirva :)
Te está quedando una estanteria mur bonita, comprendo el paso del tiempo en organizar y llenar tantos tarros.
ReplyDeleteYo vi esta foto por internet
https://picasaweb.google.com/109159550514802719346/1DeAgostoDe2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_Smq786K3jrAE#5795440546388226994
espero que te sirva :)
Que cantidad de pócimas!!! la estantería está quedando de lujo,se ven bien ordenadas,así sabrá donde buscar!!
ReplyDeleteBesos.
Gracias Pilar.
Deletecreo que esta usted realizando un gran trabajo y sortear las dificultades, es uno de los alicientes del trabajo, no cree
ReplyDeleteun abrazo
Have you thought about making the lids from card like ive been making hat boxes. Cut all the strips to the required height... just a little taller than the rim of the jars i can see in your photos. Glue the strips on all the way around the rim. When dry glue some card to the top then carefully cut around.
ReplyDeleteOr you could make them all using a circle template where you gets lots of circles on the orange sheet like you may have seen on my facebook. Pick which circle is the right size and draw lots of them out and cut. Glue to the top of the lar and then add the strips to go all the way around. Once its dry you can sand the joins to get them all nice and smooth and you could paint them so none of it shows. You could also before painting add a coat of pva to smooth all the joins out and give it a more fuller look... maybe a few light coats before the paint.
Janice i posted on my facebook wall a picture of one i did as an example for you and a little tutorial too. Hope you like it and it will sove your problems. If you ever have problems rolling clay too and it sticks to your glass tray dust your clay lightly with cornstarch applied with a really soft water colour brush... largish one!
ReplyDeleteHi Janice! Maybe it would be easier to look for suitable buttons as lids?
ReplyDeleteOr cut them from thicker paper?
For me it is also horror when I think of how much money I actually spend on postage. One shop has this...the other one that...but no shop ever has everything I need :-)
Have a wonderful and creative weekend!
Sandra
Postage! It is surprising how much it all adds up, I try to buy lots from one supplier now even if the individual prices are a little higher. The suppliers are doing their best but posting is expensive.
DeleteThey are looking fantastic Janice! I can believe that at least a week was lost doing them all...that's a whole lot of work :-).
ReplyDeleteDon't try & get the lids off the tile before baking & then let them cool completely after baking, before taking them off with a sharp tissue blade!
Ahhh, cooling....I always forget to do that as my anxiety levels when using clay mean I am picking them about as soon as I take my glass tile out of the oven. I have had lots of good advice but I definitely think my clay making will be kept very simple. I am so in awe of yours and other artisan. How do you do it!!??
DeleteHi Janice - for lids I sometimes used the centre circular bit of brass paper fasteners. Cut off the "legs" and you're left with a little brass circle which you can paint and glue in place. Hope this is useful! Best wishes, Allison
ReplyDeleteHi Allison,
DeleteWhat a great idea. I went out and bought some today and they will be perfect for smaller jars.
Thank you for a great tip.
I love jars and yours look wonderful. Could you use black cardboard circles and quilling paper for your lids?
ReplyDeleteAnother source for jars if you need more are nail decorations - here is an ebay uk listing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NAIL-ART-X12-CAVIAR-GLITTER-GLASS-MINI-BOTTLES-MANICURE-BEADS-BALLS-DECORATION-/181072325237?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Nails_Manicure_Pedicure_CA&var=&hash=item2a28c06a75
and you get all sorts of other nice bits to play with. :D
Hi Christine,
DeleteGreat minds think alike. Nikki Rowe came up with the same solution and it works perfectly. I just need to clean up my gluing skills!!
I have never really used paper/card like this before and it has opened up all sorts of possibilities.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Janice! I love what you're doing for the apothecary! A very different take on it from others and Its looking brilliant so far!
ReplyDeleteThe shelving units are just perfect and are so like the ones from snapes classroom.. It was one of my favourite sets when I went to the studio tour! :)
All the jars look great how you've displayed them,, i bet you'll have heaps of fun filling all those with weird and wonderful things!
Ive been desperate to find a cheaper alternative to glass lidded jars too for my honeydukes as they're always too expensive to buy masses of :( but I saw nikkis idea on fb the other day she sent you and it's such a good idea (do you mind if I try it out myself?
Ooh.. I was playing around with jars a while ago for potions and I coated the lid in ova glue and kept letting it dry and applying more until the top was sealed with it and when it had all dried, it have the effect of wax seals.. It was really effective actually (just another idea anyway.. I know you're going for quite a neat and tidy look o yours though :D)
I love the idea of the crates in the corners to add a little more detail and break up the jars! Are those jars of eggs by Jenn by any chance?
Looking great as always Janice and can't wait to see more of it!
Again I seem to have wrote an essay haha
Hi Michael,
DeleteThe egg jars are by Jenn, aren't they sweet. I do like the idea of the waxed tops but the card tops are simply great. Time consuming for someone as cack handed as me but so effective. The best thing is you can make them in whatever size or colour you like and they are cheap cheap!!
I will definitely use them in all my other projects and I am sure Nikki will be more than happy for others to benefit from her FB tutorial.
Thank you! Thank you! I am really grateful for the links to the bottles, Janice. To think that they are from Thailand!
ReplyDeleteAt this point of my project, I am also thinking of building wall shelves and filling them with jar specimens. This post has been most helpful!
Read the solution that Nikki worked out on fb. Brilliant!
Hi Sans,
DeleteBottles, bottles and more bottles. I always like to pass on sources as it can save us so much time and I have been helped out loads of times by other bloggers. Luckily for you they will have a very short journey.
Nikki's tip is brilliant and worked perfectly.
Hi Janice,
ReplyDeleteTry a little light dusting of talcum powder on the tile or work on grease proof paper. Or you can put your tile in your oven and bake them on the tile, when baked they should then pop off.
Hope this helps.
Debie x
Hi Debbie,
DeleteThanks for the tips. How do you manage to produce such brilliant pieces with the awful stuff?!!!
Simple shapes only for me I think !!
Janice,
ReplyDeleteDepending on if you want the lids to be removable or not?
You can get the back look by painting the rim black filling in the middle with cork and cutting it off. Add glue to level it off and then paint it black. I will usually do a second coat of black over the rim and over the top at this point.
You could also try finding a hole punch that is smiliar in size to your lid tops at the craft store and use that insead of clay.
I am always looking for beads that would make nice toppers and there is now some metal cap pieces in the bead sections that might make nice toppers too.
Jenn
Hi Jennifer,
DeleteThank you so much for all your helpful ideas and tips. I love the glue idea and will be giving it a go on the smaller jars that are so fiddly to work with.
Beads are a super idea too and I hope to jazz up the upper floor with lots of different types of jars so beads will be perfect.
Hi Lisa Marie,
ReplyDeleteClay is sooo tricky everytime I get it out I am left in awe by what others seem to be able to create with the stuff. I think I need to buy a new block as the block I am using is too crumbly.