How My Mason Jar Collection Ended Up in the Owens House
I have loved Practical Magic since it hit theaters in 1998. The story is wonderful, but there is something special about the Owens house that draws me in. The kitchen. The greenhouse. The shelves lined with jars of dried herbs and things you probably should not ask about. If you keep Mason jars the way I do, that house is the dream.
So I lit up when a message came through the contact form on our website last spring. It was from Ericia, who works in product placement at Warner Bros Pictures. She was working on Practical Magic 2, and production had a large request for Mason jars to be used in the Owens home.
My first thought was, do they know I am just a small brand that makes reCAP lids? My company is named Mason Jars Company, and a lot of people assume that makes me THE manufacturer of Mason jars. (There is no such thing, by the way. Mason is a style of jar, not a brand.) Turns out they knew exactly what they were asking for: real American Mason jars, from someone slightly obsessed with them.
What a movie witch keeps on her shelves
The set decoration team was building out the potion shelves of the Owens house. They planned to fill the jars with herbs, seeds, flowers, and potion ingredients, with the smallest jars serving as balm pots. And they specifically wanted a mix of new and used jars, because a used jar gives a room a more established look.
Anyone with a jar shelf knows exactly what they meant. A real kitchen is not matchy. It is collected, one jar at a time, over years. Apparently a witch's kitchen works the same way.
The catch
The movie was filming at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden, outside London. The UK has lovely jars of its own, Kilner and Le Parfait mostly, but those are not Mason jars. They would not look right in an American witch's kitchen, and they certainly would not fool anyone who grew up watching their grandmother can tomatoes.
Could I help? Oh yes.
Nearly 60 jars from my own shelves
I went to my collection and started pulling. New jars, old jars, (jars from my mom!) every size from quart down to tiny balm pot candidates, including vintage Kerr jars like the ones you find out west in the Pacific Northwest. I sent production a video of the whole spread and told them they could have all of it.
They took nearly everything. Their one rule: metal lids only. Witches, it turns out, do not do plastic. Bummer. I know plenty of witches who love using reCAP lids on their Mason jars!
We packed three boxes with dividers and bubble wrap and DHL carried close to 60 jars from Erie, Pennsylvania to the set decoration workshop at the Warner Bros studio lot in England.
Somewhere in the Owens house, if all goes well, my jars are sitting on those shelves filled with herbs and tinctures. Whether they make the final cut is up to the film editors, but you can bet I will be in the theater on September 11 studying every scene.
The Practical Magic of Herbs ebook this whole adventure inspired
After weeks of thinking about jars filled with herbs, seeds, and flowers, I could not just mail the boxes and move on. So we made something to celebrate: The Practical Magic of Herbs, an ebook with simple herb rituals you can do at home with jars you already own. No potion training required.
Get The Practical Magic of Herbs ebook now or FREE with purchase of the Shaker Spice Set.
And if your own jar shelf could use a little practical magic, our reCAP lids and herb storage favorites are here. Made in my hometown in Pennsylvania, no cauldron necessary.