The initial concept of these products came from my desire to jump into an avenue of witchcraft I had not played with before: Spell Jars. Spell Jars are a very unique element of witchcraft. They combine various natural elements and intentions into a physical representation of a desired outcome. A big part of these spell jars is the personal aspect of them. Because of this, I decided to produce fully customized spell jars with custom labels. The design is quite simple. It starts with a basic tan brown background with a dark brown outline. The text label is in a simple flowy font to give the appearance of being handwritten. Lastly there are a few key simple pictures to bring in the theme of the spell jar. 

Luck of the Cards

For this product I wanted to capture that casino card games aesthetic. The idea of casinos bringing strong feelings and associations with luck and getting luck with a big win. I went with a simple design for the symbols, choosing to do two card designs. The cards were easy to create utilizing raster shapes in Adobe Illustrator. Firstly, I created two small rectangles, then rounded the edges to emulate the look of playing cards. Since there were only going to be two cards on the label to keep it from being cluttered, I chose the spade and the club. For these symbols I free handed the design utilizing the pen tool in Illustrator then cleaning up the lines. I placed each card on opposite sides to create a diagonal symmetry line and avoid one side looking cluttered. Last thing that was added was the jar name. I knew it was going to be a luck spell with cards, and “Luck of the Cards” came as a natural combination of the two. 

Shield of Mushrooms

The Shield of Mushroom protection jar leaned hard into the witch in the wood aesthetic. Mushrooms have a reputation of being one of the more mystical elements of the world. Combining this idea with the real world fact that mushrooms have underground mycelium networks that connect them to other plants in the forest, they became the inspiration for this protection jar. For the mushroom designs themselves, I took inspiration from the stereotypical design of mushrooms with their main red color and white spots. This is the design I gave the main mushroom. For the next two designs, I made one taller and the other short and stubby to give the design some differentiation. These two mushrooms used dark colors to stand out against the tan background and make the white spots stand out as well.

Yippee in a Jar

This jar was leaned more into the fun, unserious side of these products. The Yippee creature, also known as the TBH creature, is an internet symbol that has been taken up to represent the autism community. This jar was designed to celebrate that community and the happiness that this little doodle character provides them. The character’s simple design is highlighted in its prominent place in the label, taking up more space than the typical accent symbol. Because the creature is in simple black and white, it stands out against the tan background of the label. For this product much of the design process came to me very quickly once the initial design was thought up leading to a quick turn around. 

Fell and Crow Ineffable Essence

This product started as the first to explore branching into tackling interests that were heavily focused in fandom spaces. Because of the intense nature of copyright, it is quite difficult to find a balance between referencing the source material and infringing on copyright. To do this I looked at the source material, in this case Good Omens, and simplified the reference to allude to key elements of the show, mainly the two main characters Aziraphale and Crowley and their fandom “ship name” Ineffable Husbands. These are two of the biggest elements for fans of the show, so they were best to use for referencing. For the reference, I simplified their names into allusions and kept the reference to their Ineffable nature. To also nail down the reference I created a simple angel wing and demon tail with Illustrator. 

Great Witch Shelby’s Greatest Potion

This was the last of the 5 initial products to be made. This one followed the lines of the Fell and Crow Spell Jar in referencing a character from an external piece of media. However, where this character is unique is in its origin. This character comes from a Youtube web series and therefore, is much less sheltered under copyright. This is why I used the name of the character “Great Witch Shelby” for the spell jar. This character has an iconic symbol with her dark green witch hat. So naturally this character fits right in with the  spell jar witch aesthetic. 

Adding it to the jar (printing and adding to glass)

Once the labels are designed, the next step is to print them out and attach them to the jars. There are many different methods you can choose which all have their own strengths and weaknesses. One method is to print the designs onto sticker paper then cut them out and stick them onto the jars. This is a good quick option, however depending on the sticker adhesive quality they may come off when in contact with water. Another option is to print them out on regular paper and attach it with rubber cement. This is a more cost efficient option and is easy for a beginner to design and attach their jars. 

Setting to environment for the spell

The components of the spell are only one element of the creation of the spell jars. The other key element is setting the space when the spell is cast. This is mostly done at a witchcraft altar, however, if you do not have one then a simple, clean sacred space will do. The first step is prepping the space to cast the spell. The space must be clean both physically and spiritually. This clean space can be any location in your house, it just needs to be somewhere that is safe for you to express yourself without restraint. Once this location is chosen, the spiritual energy needs to be cleansed. These can be done in various ways depending on the resources you have available. The most common way is to use a light sage burn to cleanse the space, but if you do not have the resources to do a sage burning, then a simple mental cleansing of the environment can do. To do a mental cleansing, simply sit in the center of your space and imagine a white light circling the spell casting area. This light cleanses the area of any negative energies that may be in the area. 

Casting the spells and sealing the jars

Once the environment for the spell is set it is time to cast the spell and create the spell jars themselves. Every spell jar has components unique to the spell and what it is looking to accomplish. Once all the materials are gathered, the first step is to cleanse the jar with a simple incense burn. Light the incense and place it inside the jar. Let the smoke build for a short period before removing the incense and letting the smoke exit the jar. Once you do that, it is time to add the ingredients for the spell. Again, this is very dependent on the purpose of your spell, but regardless of this, all the ingredients need to be added with a focus on your intention. Focusing on the intention for the spell will charge the ingredients and give them their power. Once all of your ingredients are added, you can either seal the jar or leave it open. If you intend to seal the jar, most often this is done by melting wax over the lid. For melting the wax, a simple taper candle will do. Just light the candle, hold it over the jar, and let it drip onto the jar. Alternatively you could buy melting wax which is created with the intention of using it as seals.  Once the jars are sealed, you are free to do whatever you want with them. They can be taken with you and carried on your person or they can be placed at a key place in your life so they can work effectively on your life. 

Simplifying the creation process on a budget

Creating spell jars can be an intimidating process in terms of the creation process but also in terms of acquiring the materials. There are a lot of components that go into the spell jar and the cost of that can build quickly. For beginner spell-casters, it’s ok to slowly build your collection. Most common herbs can be bought cheaply at grocery stores and used for multiple spells. Jars can be bought from thrift stores as needed or in bulk for a slightly higher price. Small  amounts of crystals can be bought at any craft store to start your collection and are useful for small spell jars. Burning sage and incense for cleansing is an optional process. If you do not have the resources to get those items, then a simple mental cleansing is just as efficient. Starting your spell casting journey may be daunting but the collection can be slowly built up over time as you become more familiar with your relationship with spell crafting.