Greetings instructable adventurers,

Looking for something to add to your LARPing ensemble or wanting to add a dash of darkness to your mantle place? Well in this instructable I am going to share how to make a wicked charred skull potion bottle.

As always I am keeping it simple so no difficult techniques or specialised tools needed :)

Lets begin

Supplies

Materials

Black polymer clay.

An empty and clean glass bottle. I am using a spherical Chambord bottle but you can apply this instructable to any shape or size of bottle. Using a spherical bottle of some sort just give it a more skull like base. (bonus you get to empty the bottle how you see fit, just remember to drink responsibly)

A cork big enough to fit the neck of your chosen bottle.

Red liquid of some sort, I am using cherryade here but you can use what ever type of liquid you like, red food colouring in water for example

You may want an image of a skull for reference but its not necessary.

Tools

Craft knife,

Sculpting tools, I am using a toothpick.

A rolling pin or glass bottle to roll out your clay

Wet wipes or a glass of water are useful for smoothing off

Step 1: Basic Base

Flatten out your clay and wrap it round the upper half to 2/3rds of the bottle.

Trim off any excess around the base of the bottle neck as well as around the bottom.

As you are trimming keep an eye out for any natural "cracks" that have formed as you have been getting the clay in place. You may want to keep these as they add to the effect later on.

I trimmed the black right the way around where the band of the bottle was and then added a piece where I was going to put the upper lip/nose of my skull.

Using the toothpick I mapped out where I wanted my eyes, nose and teeth where going to go and then carefully cut them out with a craft knife.

I also decided I wanted to use the logo circle that was part of the bottle as a feature so i cut that out as well.

Step 2: Adding Some Details and Bulk.

For this step I just started adding clay to emphasise the features. Take some time and have some fun with this step, try out different expressions for your skull. I made mine quite grim but you dont have to ;)

For the eyebrows I used thick snakes tapered to one end and curled them around the eye sockets, smoothing the upper part into the base.

Similarly I rolled a thin snake and did the same around the base of the eye socket.

For the nose/nasal cavity i made an upside down "V" and placed it over the top of the gap smoothing it into the base along the top and the pints at the bottom of the "V".

I added a Block to bulk out the cheek bones.

For the "lip" I rolled out a thin snake and formed it into a wavy line with 6 waves as I wanted spaces for 6 teeth, again smoothing it onto the base.

For the teeth I made 6 tear drop shapes, placing them into the gaps of the wave. Now toy can have these tight against the glass or as I have done "floating" away from it a bit. If you choose to do this make sure they dont come out too far (to avoid snagging) and are well attached to the lip.

Step 3: Scuffs and Cracks

As with the step before, just have some fun with this part. The only rules for this step would be....

A) More cracks/spaces = more light to shine through when liquid is in it.
B) Don't make any cracks that would split the skull into more than one continuous piece (ie put a crack that would go from the top of the skull right to the bottom) as this could mean that your skull wont stay on the bottle once it is baked......i really hope that makes sense

I used my toothpick and craft knife to create different depths of cracks and scuffs to make the skull look like it had been through some action, adding texture to the teeth and cracks around the base of the bottle neck so it liiked like it had poke through the top of the skull.

I also cut some "symbols" into the back of the skull to give it a ritualistic vibe (i goodled symbols from the game darksiders 3)

After this I smoothed of the edges so they looked more natural than cut and put it the oven as directed by my brand of clay.

Step 4: Done!

Once it was cooled I put some cherryade in, popped in the cork and voila....on charred skull potion bottle.

Finished!

I just used black for this instructable but you could really go to town with one of these, adding gold/silver decorations or stones or even horns.

Well brave adventurer I wish you well on your journey and hope you enjoyed this instructable. As always thoughts comments, criticisms and pictures of your own potion bottles are welcome in the comments section below.

Take care :)