How to Make a Halloween Candle Jar

Here’s a quick and easy project that will throw some illumination on your Halloween festivities!

Requirements:

Glass jar
Isopropyl Alcohol
Pattern template
Black and orange acrylic artist paint
Assorted paint brushes
Tea light candles

1. Clean all of your jar, inside and outside using Isopropyl Alcohol. (I used a Mocona coffee jar)

2.Below is a rough sketch of my template. I used it as a painting guide, preferring to paint a little freehand as well.

3. Measure around the outside of your jar to find the required width of your template. Halloween is not perfect… houses are a little wonky and not realistic. The template is meant only as a guide. Simply right click the image and save to your own computer. Draw a line as wide as your jar. Trace the designs to fit the measurement. fill in any gaps with trees or gravestones.

4. Roll up paper template and place inside jar, so the template fits snuggly against the glass.

5. Paint the design on the outside of the jar using a small round brush and black paint. The effect will be a little rough with the first coat of paint. Leave to dry before painting a second coat.

6. Your Halloween jar could be left as is or you can colour the inside of the jar. There are various ways to do this: one way is to colour it with Mod Podge or Decoupage paste mixed with food dye (a few drops each of yellow and red); or as I did, add a little water to orange paint to make an ink-like consistency. Pour the paint into the jar and swirl around until all the inside surface is covered. Hold the jar upside down over a receptacle to catch the drips and left over paint. I left my jar sitting upside down, resting on a couple of plastic pegs inside a plastic disposable plate for an hour or so.

Tip: the inside of the jar is one colour. It changes its appearance when candles are lit inside, creating a yellow glow.