I have one buried in front of the entrance to my home. It is filled with nails, pins, broken glass, salt, and urine. That's one of the wards that I use to keep the negative from getting in the door.
Inside the house I have a Witch ball hanging in my bedroom. The coven made these at Yule out of clear glass tree ornaments. It is filled with tinsel and salt, and the sides of the ball are painted with silver and glitter. The idea is that anything which is not reflected away from the room will become tangled and trapped inside the ball.
This is something I use a lot personally, and I feel like it is a very significant item for me to have due to various reasons.
The witch bottles I make aren't complicated or over loaded at all, however I do prefer to put more than just a few items to keep it effective.
Most of the times I use a small glass jar with lid (of course) as the bottle itself. Inside the bottle, I put some sharp, rusty items, like nails, razor blades, bent pins. I also add some sea salt (for purification), a red string or ribbon (it is believed to bring protection), and a black candle in case I have it.
I've never heard of putting a picture in it though, and I don't really think it is a good idea, personally.
Merlin64, it's a bottle filled with sharp objects (nails, broken, glass, etc.), thread, and wine or urine. It's then sealed and used to ward off unwanted negative energy, spirits, etc.
I personally use needles and pins, red thread, and wine in mine. I then cork it and seal it with red wax. I live in an apartment, so I have a small one on my balcony and one on a desk near my door.
I actually don't keep a face image in my witch bottle. Mine contains a small slip of paper with a basic charm, various botanicals based on purpose, as well as finger nails, dog hair, staples, screws, broken glass, sand, salt, urine, spit, mud, and horse chestnut spines. I stuck it under a floorboard I had to resecure a year or so ago after we moved into our rental place.
I would probably do a cleansing and a banishing before I made a bottle, if you already have something lurking around. The bottles are supposed to keep negate energy and things like that away. I'm not sure how useful they would be if you already have something in your home.
