Mason jar jack-o’-lanterns are about the least messy pumpkin carving there is: no knife, no seeds, and they come back out of the closet next year. Tint a jar orange, add a black vinyl face, drop a light inside. This SVG gives you eight faces to pick from, sized to fit the jars.
There are two files, one per jar size. Each holds all eight faces. On the pint file every face is 2.75 in wide, and the whole sheet is 9.0 x 7.12 in. On the quart file the faces are 3.5 in wide on an 11.12 x 8.62 in sheet. Both are cut-checked for adhesive vinyl and fit on a 12×12 mat.
| File | Size | Material | Layers | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 jack-o'-lantern faces for pint mason jars (2.75 in wide) | 9 × 7.12 in | Vinyl | 8 layers | ✓ Cut-checked |
| 8 jack-o'-lantern faces for quart mason jars (3.5 in wide) | 11.12 × 8.62 in | Vinyl | 8 layers | ✓ Cut-checked |
Eight faces, one layer each
The faces run from friendly to spooky:
- Classic: triangle eyes and nose, a wide grin with pointed teeth.
- Happy: closed, smiling eyes and a big smile with two little teeth.
- Scary: angry slanted eyes and a jagged mouth full of fangs.
- Surprised: round eyes with a shine, and a round O mouth with a small nose just above it, cut as its own piece clear of the mouth.
- Winking: one open eye, one wink, and a lopsided smile with its tongue out.
- Cute: big shiny eyes, a tiny smile and two rosy-cheek ovals.
- Vampire: pointed eyes under heavy brows and a smile with two fangs.
- Stitched: X eyes, a dot nose and a grin sewn shut with stitches.
Each face is its own layer in the SVG, named Face 1 Classic through Face 8 Stitched. That’s the point of the layout: you don’t have to cut all eight. Hide the ones you don’t want and cut only what you need.
Each face is several loose pieces: two eyes, a nose, a mouth, sometimes brows or cheeks. On a jar that’s how it should be, since the glass shows between them. It does mean transfer tape does the real work, holding every piece in its spot until it’s on the glass. The winking face’s tongue is its own piece tucked into the mouth with a thin gap, and the shine in the eyes is cut out, so those eyes are rings with a hole.
Every face passed our adhesive vinyl check at both jar sizes. The faces with the least spare room are the vampire and the winker, so they’re the two to weed slowly.
What you need
- Black permanent adhesive vinyl
- Pint or quart mason jars (regular or wide mouth)
- Something to tint the glass orange, such as orange tissue paper and decoupage glue, or glass paint
- Standard grip mat
- Weeding hook and transfer tape
- Rubbing alcohol and a lint-free cloth
- Battery tea lights or LED fairy lights
Making the luminaries
- Upload the right size. Pint jars take the pint file and quart jars the quart file. In Design Space, click Upload, Upload Image, then Browse (the upload guide walks through each step). Don’t resize it.
- Hide the faces you don’t want. Open the Layers panel and click the eye icon next to each face you’re skipping. Cricut’s help says hidden layers won’t cut. Want three of the same face? Duplicate that layer instead.
- Cut. Click Make, choose your vinyl setting and cut. No mirroring, since the vinyl goes on the outside of the jar.
- Weed. Pull the background away, then pick out the eye shines. Weed each face on its own if you cut several so the pieces don’t get mixed up. The weeding guide helps with the small stuff.
- Tape it up. Put transfer tape over each face, burnish hard and cut the tape between faces so each one is its own sticker.
- Apply to the jar. Wipe the glass with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. Press the center of the face down first, then work outward. Cutting a couple of small slits into the tape’s edges helps it lie flat on the curve.
Our guide to putting vinyl on a mug covers curved surfaces in more detail, and it works the same on a jar.
Use battery tea lights or LED lights inside the jars, not real candles. It’s standard safety advice for decorated jars. Tissue paper, glue and vinyl don’t mix with an open flame, and a jar left on a porch full of costumed kids is not a place for one.
Tinting the jar
Do it before the vinyl goes on. Orange tissue paper, torn into pieces and brushed on with decoupage glue, gives a soft glow with some texture. Glass paint gives a smoother finish. Follow the product’s own directions for drying or curing time. A clear jar works too, with the face in black vinyl and the light showing through the glass around it.
Picking a size
| Jar | File | Face width |
|---|---|---|
| Pint (16 oz) mason jar | Pint | 2.75 in |
| Quart (32 oz) mason jar | Quart | 3.5 in |
| Small candle holder or half-pint jar | Pint, if the face fits | 2.75 in |
| Plastic pumpkin bucket, paper lantern | Quart, or scaled up | 3.5 in or larger |
Measure across the flat front of your jar before you cut. Some jars have embossed logos or ribs, and a face goes on best where the glass is smooth. If the face is too big for a small jar, pick a different container rather than shrinking the file; below 2.75 in the vampire’s brows and the wink get too thin to weed.
Beyond the jars
The quart faces fit a real pumpkin, too. Adhesive vinyl sticks to a clean, dry pumpkin skin for a no-carve face, though how long it stays depends on the pumpkin and the weather. They also dress up plain orange treat buckets and paper lanterns. For more pumpkin shapes, see our free pumpkin SVG.
If small pieces like the noses or the wink stay on the liner when you lift the transfer tape, burnish longer and peel the liner away from the tape instead, keeping it low and flat.
Questions
What size jack-o’-lantern face fits a mason jar?
Use 2.75 in wide faces on a pint jar and 3.5 in wide faces on a quart jar. Those are the two files in the download, each checked for vinyl at that size.
Can I cut just one jack-o’-lantern face?
Yes. Each face is its own layer. Click the eye icon in the Layers panel to hide the rest; hidden layers don’t cut.
Can I put a real candle in a vinyl mason jar?
We’d use battery tea lights or LEDs instead. That’s the usual safety advice for decorated jars, especially ones covered in tissue paper and glue.
