Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and caldron bubble!

Happy Spooky Season! This is my first Halloween in my home and I’m excited for it! I’m debating on whether or not I will sit on my porch with Luna and hand out candy (weather permitting). Last year at this time I was busy packing up my old place and getting ready to move so I didn’t even decorate for Halloween. Since I’m in my new place, I thought I would try to make some new Halloween yard decorations. I tried my hand at a bubbling witches cauldron.

Supplies

• Cauldron
• Supports (I used PVC but you can use sturdy branches, or bamboo supports)
• Chain
• Mist Maker
• Paint
• Oats and/or Granola
• ModPodge
• Duct Tape
• Floral Foam
• Bowl
• Thick twine

me cauldrons that I had taken from my parents’ place years ago that were currently being used for my dying herbs. The previous owner of my house also left a cauldron with some vintage blue Mason Jars and a vintage stove in the basement. I had to decide which one I was going to use. The cauldron on the left is the one I had, and the one on the right was the one left by the previous owner. I decided to use mine because it was larger. I gave it a good washing and let it dry.

For the supports, I decided to use PBC Pipes. I didn’t have branches that were sturdy enough to hold the support of the cauldron and water. PBC will also last longer. I picked up two 10 foot poles of 1 inch PBC from Home Depot. While the cauldron dried, I cut my PBC Pipes to approximately the same length using my handy PBC cutter. Then I spray painted them using a matte hammered spray paint. Once the paint was dry, I drilled holes near the top of each of the legs.

• 

• 

• 

Once the cauldron was dry, I brought it into my craft room and drilled three holes in the rim. Then I mixed Mod Podge and left over granola. I really wanted the rim to have a very chunky feel. and then I mixed the Mod Podge and the oats for the sides of the the cauldron. This process was really gross feeling. I let everything dry for a few hours and the added a second layer of Mod Podge to seal the granola and oats.

• 

• 

• 

With my mess drying in the craft room, I laid out the legs of the supports and wrapped thick twine through each of the holes and wrapped it around the supports, making sure that they were all secure and tightly wrapped together. I set it up in my living room to make sure that it would feel relatively sturdy when it stood up. With that part complete, I had to wait until the next day to start painting the cauldron.

I sponge painted the base of the Cauldron with copper and gold paint, making it look like it’s been rusted. I painted the handles gold. Lastly, I painted the oats and granola a metallic acid green color. I wanted it to be seen from the street or sidewalk, which is why I used the bright green. I even squeezed some of the paint so it looked like previous potions had run down the sides. I’m just imagining an old witch who doesn’t keep an eye on her pot and there are bits of toad, eye of newt that had bubbled over.

• 

• 

• 

I let the paint dry and I then filled the bottom of the cauldron with floral foam for the bowl to sit on. In order to prevent the mist from flowing over the edge of the bowl and back down into the cauldron, duct taped the bowl to the cauldron. (Next year I think I will have to redo this and use some cardboard for the duct tape to stick to.) I built up the layers so there were no gaps. I taped around where the cord for the mister went to the hole I drilled in the cauldron.

• 

• 

After everything dried, I attached the chain to the cauldron through the holes I had previously drilled in the rim. I had to use a needle nose pliers to open and close each of the links. I then took an S hook I had left over from my kitchen rack and used that to hook the cauldron to the tripod. I did a test run to make sure the lights and the mister worked and waited for the sun to go down before I got to see how it looked in the dark. Check out how I made the faux smoldering fire to complete the look! Happy Haunting friends!