Halloween Craft: Mummified Glass Jar Candle Holder

Need a fun Halloween craft? Make these upcycled glass jar mummy lanterns!

I have a short walkway in front of my house with solar lamps along the path. Still, I worry that they are not bright enough when little kids come trick-or-treating in costume on Halloween. This Halloween craft was just the thing to fix my problem!

So this year, I decided to upcycle some glass jars to make mummified lanterns to provide a little more light while setting the mood. You can use beeswax candles or solar lamps, like the ones that I used for this Jack-O-Lantern, or battery operated flickering candles.

You can group a few lanterns together, put one on each step, or line them up along a path. Regardless, I think they are functional Halloween craft as well as decorative. You can get creative with the facial expressions and make them smile, frown, scary, or surprised.

So let’s get mummified!

You will need:

• Wide Mouth Glass Jar – pickle jar, sauce jar, mason jar, etc.
• Gauze tape or cheese cloth
• Wheat Four or All Purpose Flour
• Water
• Black Construction Paper or facial feature cut outs
• Elmer’s Glue

First you want to prepare the gauze strips. You can raid your First Aid box for a roll of gauze tape but if you have cheesecloth, that works too. Just cut them in strips in any workable length and width for your glass jar.

Set aside your gauze and mix together your flour and water. I used unbleached white whole wheat flour for this because I wanted the color of the lanterns to look like aged mummies. Depending on how many glasses you are using and how big they are, the amount of flour and water you need will vary. Just make sure the mixture is a thin gravy-like consistency.

Oh, and make sure to line your work surface as it’ll get messy.

Once you have a good mixture of flour and water, soak the gauze strips in the glue.

Gently squeeze out the glue mixture from the strips so that they are not dripping but moist. Start covering the jar with strips in an irregular pattern. No one expects mummies to be perfectly wrapped so, an irregular wrap will be best.

When the jar is completely covered, let it dry overnight.

Cut out the eyes and mouths with black construction paper and glue them on with Elmer’s glue.
Introducing the Mummy Family!

You can play around with different expressions using opposite sides of your jars. I made this side with different eyes.

I’ve seen jars just wrapped in gauze, but it will eventually fall down because of the slippery glass surface. Using the flour glue will ensure that this Halloween craft will stay put for years to come.

Enjoy!