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• Flat glass bottle
• Sponge
• Black candle of black beeswax
• Large bead
• Black acrylic paint
• Matches
• Adhesive glue
• Label
• Printer/pen

​Cover the whole bottle with black acrylic paint and a sponge. You can add multiple layers of paint to ensure the surface of the bottle stays smooth.

​You can get more creative with the bead you choose, as it will act as your bottle stopper. The one I used is a broken Christmas light, and I thought it was perfect. Glue the bead to the top of the bottle with adhesive glue.

For the "always" quote, you can either write it yourself or print it online like I did. You can find many printables on Pinterest. Glue the label on the bottle.

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​To give the bottle that magical touch, I melted some black beeswax to the top of the bottle. Don´t do this without parental supervision if you are a minor! When you melt the wax, protect your work surface because the process can get messy! You don´t need to use lots of the candle wax. Just drop a little bit on top of the bottle. Many times, letting it fall naturally will create most wonderful results.

​Your Severus Snape bottle is ready! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to try new things.

When I lived in Wales I celebrated Calan Gaeaf with my friends. Calan Gaeaf is Welsh and it is derived from Nos Claan Gaeaf which means the night of the spirits. 

Calan Gaeaf has been traditionally celebrated in Wales during the night between the last day of October and the first of November. It is very similar festival to Samhain in Ireland and Samhuin in Scotland, Kekri in Finland, Mardipäev in Estonia and Velines in Lithuania etc. 

There are many interesting and fascinating beliefs and customs connected to Calan Gaeaf. One of the most important traditions was bonfires and they were known as Coelcerth. According to one custom people piled rocks around the fire and carved their names into the rocks. If the rock was gone in the next morning, person who´s name was in the missing rock would pass away in the coming year. 

It was believed that the night between the last of October and the first of November was limbo, the time when the veil between the living and the death was open. Welsh word for November Tachwedd means slaughter. November was a month when animals were slaughtered and meat was restored for the upcoming winter. 

Mumming and masquerades were a big part of Calan Gaeaf. Many people wore masks so that the evil spirits would not recognise them. There were plays organised by theatre and pantomime groups. Making tricks and pranks was also part of Calan Gaeaf. It was believed that mimicking the spirits would bring good luck for the coming year. During the medieval times people gave so called soul-cakes for each others. Soul-cake tradition originated from French monasteries where during the day of St. Martin cakes were given to the poor. In Wales families baked lots of soul-cakes and gave the to friends and neighbours. When a person receives a soul-cake they are ought to think about a passed away person. Hence the name soul-cakes.

Soul-cakes were often given to the mummers, who often were disguised children and teen-agers. Later on soul-cakes were replaced by sweets and money. 

Celebration of Calan Gaeaf decreased in the 19th and 20th centuries when the state claimed most of the land and during the time of industrial revolution majority of the people moved from the countryside to cities. Now days most Welsh people who celebrate Calan Gaeaf are pagans/spiritual folk and Halloween has become quite popular in the UK as well within recent years (my own Kekri celebration is a happy mixture of all kind of autumn time/pagan holidays). 

One of my older videos. Chatting about my favorite pagan & folk music bands and groups )O( Enjoy

Story time! This time I'm sharing myths and legends about will o wisp's in Finnish folk tales. Enjoy )O(

Feel free to check my online course on Finnish mythology )O( 

I finished a new painting! part of a series of unicorn artworks I did in artschool recently. This one is known as the Crystal unicorn. Watercolor and acrylics on acid-free watercolor paper. (c) Niina Niskanen

T-shirts, posters, stickers and other products available in my Redbubble store. 

I play kantele, the Finnish folk instrument. Video done couple of years ago. Enjoy!

I made a little video of some of my favorite witching hour/Halloween/Samhain/Kekri paintings.
​Enjoy )O( 

I made this video for YT Pagan challenge some years ago. Theme was animal spirits and power animals. The animals I mention in this video are still very important to me. 

Join me for the Martinpäivä chat. Time for the spirits fly around. )O( Many Blessings. 

I finally finished the Rusalka painting. Rusalka´s are slavic water siren-demons. According to some sources there are spirits of ladies who drowned themselves because of a broken heart. 

She is accompanied by Zmei, Slavic dragon.

I was inspired by medieval bestiaries. Back then people believed that many of the mythical creatures existed..in far away lands of course. 

I´ve always thought rusalka´s were really cool..and really creepy. Watercolor on acid-free watercolor paper. Posters, cases, t-shirts and other good stuff available in my Redbubble store. 

Here are more pictures: