How to replace cafeteria ketchup and mustard condiments . . . .

Finished ketchup and mustard
condiment bottles are quilled.

        The traditional cafeteria ketchup and mustard bottles found in diners, schools, and fast food restaurants across the United States can be duplicated using simple paper coils, (sometimes called quills), white school glue and toothpicks for your dolls. 
       And this is a good thing because there are so many 18 inch doll playsets that have them. Both American Girl and My Generation have sold these tiny squeeze bottles in red and yellow over and over to young children who seem to keep loosing them over and over. (Well, they are very small.)
       So here is how little ones can reproduce ketchup and mustard again and again no matter how often your pet chews them up or even if they happen to fall through the grates of a floor vent dozens of times!
       My replacement versions here are made with paper quills that I cut myself. You can actually purchase these "quills" after they have been cut by a machine and prepacked for the craft market. However, I suggest that you cut them yourself and save the money until you decide to make it a serious craft choice later on. It doesn't matter if the hand-cut paper quills are not perfect, if wrapped tightly, the tiny imperfections may be hidden.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut the sharp tip off of the end of a toothpick or skewer.
2. measure the length of the wooden pick and cut it to be approximately 2 1/4 inches.
3. Paint the tip down 1/2 inch in red or golden yellow in advance and let it dry. Below you can see that I skipped this step until the end but realized it would be easier for a student to do it prior to wrapping the toothpick so this is my recommendation for the process.
   
4. To make the bottom half of condiment bottle cap, wrap a 1/8" wide quill paper around and around on top of itself with small amounts of white school glue until it is the width of a cap looks something similar to a condiment squeeze bottle cap.
5. Then just beneath the cap wrap a wider length of quill paper (1 3/4") for the bottle part around and around on top of itself with small amounts of white school glue until it is the width of the bottle part is larger than the cap by double the size. See pictures below, the cap is narrower than the bottle itself. 
6. Alternatively, I also wrapped the yellow mustard bottle section on a separate toothpick and then pulled it off to reattach it with glue just beneath the cap of the first toothpick. Gluing the bottle and wrapping it as you go directly on the original toothpick can get a bit tricky otherwise and I discovered this to be easier.
   
7. Finish the end of the whole bottle by gluing it on top of a piece of matching paper and then cutting around it once it is dry. See last photo below.
   
8. Wrap just a tiny amount of either cotton or paper around the tip to give it a inverted "V" shape and paint it to match the rest of the bottle.
9. Give a coat or two of Mod Podge to seal all of the surfaces of the doll-sized condiment bottles.

Left, compare the width of the cap quill both on and off of the toothpick. Center, I'm
wrapping the cap onto the toothpick, permanently attaching it with glue as I go. Right,
I wrapped the bottle part of the condiment bottle on a separate toothpick but have
removed it and then attached it again with glue just beneath the cap. It helps to make
these two coils on different toothpicks to begin with and then transfer the lower half.
This is because my hands are a bit clumsy working with something so very small.