I have a few spare glass bottles and want to explore what decoration I can make with them, without just painting outside them.
Preferably safe, in case of an accidental breakage or leak. Preferably indefinite shelf-life.
Some ideas:
- Density layering experiments (‘rainbow in a jar’, maybe suspending an upside-down toy boat in a dense clear liquid with a blue watery liquid on-top)
- Phosphorescent liquids to glow in the dark (pref with no UV lamp needed)
- The oil+water+antacid+food coloring lava lamp, but the effect is probably too short-lasting to have running for a few hours
Sand art.
My kids made tgat for mothersday once. Looks actually nice. It’s still on display after 5 years or so
The blood of the foes who have fallen before you.
Water and food coloring in a window is pretty sweet. Especially with multiple colors.
Ferrofluid for sure
The proper stuff is expensive (~$1USD/ml), NileRed’s recipe is 2chem4me, but the cheaper ferrous suspension methods might be workable…

Tempted to try the Traffic Light Reactuon, but I don’t know how safe it is to store something that alkaline in a regular glass bottle long-term
Meth
Have you considered Spiegel im Spiegel.







