Tutorial: Jack-o-Lantern Luminaries from Epsom Salts

I had seen candleholders encrusted with Epsom salts before and thought they were pretty. The Epsom salts look like tiny crystals and refract the light beautifully. So, I filed the idea away for a rainy day. Yesterday, I had the thought to apply the idea to Halloween! I came up with these cute jack-o-lantern luminaries! They are cheap, as well as fast and easy to make. Let’s get started!

Here’s what you’ll need to make these luminaries:

• Epsom salts
• Food coloring (yellow and red)
• Popsicle stick for mixing
• Jars
• Mod Podge (white glue would probably work just fine, too)
• Craft brush for applying Mod Podge
• Scraps of black felt
• Scissors


Step 1: You start by pouring about a cup of Epsom salts in a bowl. This is actually enough to do about ten jars, but you want extra in there so you have plenty to work with. Now, add your food coloring. I added ten drops of yellow and two drops of red (I started with half of this and thought it was too light). Mix using the popsicle stick until the food coloring is well distributed.

Step 2: Cover the outside of your jar with a generous amount of Mod Podge. I used it full strength without watering it down (if I were to use white glue, I would probably water it down a bit). A quick aside about the jars, I used mason jars that had raised designs on them. These didn’t matter at all to the final product.

Step 3: Start rolling your glue covered jar around in your Epsom salts. Make sure you cover the entire surface of the jar. Then give your jar a little shake over the bowl to get rid of any loose salts.

Step 4: Try to keep yourself from messing with it while it dries. If you’ve ever read any of my tutorials, you know this is always the hardest part for me!

Step 5: When dry, you can take it to the garbage can and lightly rub it to remove loose salts. If needed brush bald spots with more Mod Podge and add more salts. Let dry. Control yourself from messing with it again.


Step 6: Using the scraps of black felt, cut out the face of the jack-o-lantern. Glue in place using Mod Podge or white glue.

These are so pretty when lit. I think it would be really neat to make them using really large jars or vases and having several of them on the front steps on Halloween. With as cheap as Epsom salts are, it would probably cost less than real jack-o-lanterns!