Easy tutorial on making miniature canning jars

Make four dollhouse-sized jars for around $20.00

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out how to make miniature canning jars after searches on Etsy for these little items were proving too expensive to buy. I'm making a root cellar with a dozen jars and here's how you can do it too. I've included the materials, cost breakdown and how-to instructions below.

OK, start by assembling your materials. You can get these at any big box or craft store, and I'll include where I got mine. To make these 1/4-inch jars, you'll need:

Miniature Spice Bottles, Michael's: $3.12/package

Food color, $2.96

Split Rings (Sewing Section), Walmart: $2.32

Waverly mini bolt fabric, (Sewing Section) Walmart, $1.47, scissors, Elmer's clear glue, Dollar Store, $3.99

Foam sheets, (Craft Section) Walmart: $1.72

Assorted Fruit Polymer Clay, Etsy: $2.00 ($3 shipping)

I started off making green beans out of tiny pieces of green foam, then placed them in jar with a toothpick. Then, squeezing the Elmer's into the jar, I used the toothpick to swirl around. Finally, I used the tip of the toothpick to pick up the tiniest dot of green food dye and swirled it in.

The fabric top took some trial and error (and here above was my first attempt) but the easiest way to do it is cut 1/4 x 1/4 inch of the fabric into a square. Set aside.

Then, use a pair of pliers to pull the split rings just far apart enough and cut the extra wire off so that you have one open ring. I used a pencil to hold it while my pliers shaped it.

Then, simply place the fabric over the top of the jar. (I used a dot of glue to keep it secure) and use your pliers to open up the ring just enough to slide over the top, where it will sit snug. You can trim the fabric at this point to desired length. The foam pieces in varied colors can make carrots, string beans, green beans, tomatoes, etc.

I then tried making another jar, this time: stewed apples. So, first, I snipped off a tiny piece of the polymer clay, but found that it was too wide to stick into the jar. So, I had to cut it in half.

Following the same process as above, there are the apples in the middle. They all fit nice and snug on my cellar standing shelf and were very easy to make. Assuming you already have a pair of scissors, toothpicks and pliers in your craft supplies, the total amount for four jars was $20.58. The best part is you now have the supplies to make many more.

Stay tuned to see what the root cellar shadowbox turns out to be. Check out our gallery of shadowbox projects.