Tyra Smith, Cloud 9, Tips & Techniques

Altered Bottles

Valerie Wallace valerie@flyght-of-fantasy.co.uk
First, I took clear glass bottles. The triangular one I covered with Fimo, one of the ones that look like stone. To cover it, I kneaded the Fimo until it was nice and soft, then I rolled it flat until it was as thin as I could get it. I laid the sheet of Fimo on the bottle and molded it all around the bottle, smoothing out any areas where the clay met. I took an exacto knife and cut the clay that was inside the lip of the mouth so that I could still get the cork into it. At this point I set the bottle aside and worked on the bellies. The label came from a book called 'The Art of the Label' by Robert Opie, I got it at a cheap bookstore with the intention of cutting it up as soon as I got it :o). The egyptian design on the back I did by rolling my clay super thin, then I laid the stamp on the table face up (it's an unmounted stamp) I put the clay on top of the stamp and rolled over the top of it, pressing very firmly so I would get all the detail of the stamp. I trimmed off the excess clay and brushed the design with Pearl Ex. Next, I moulded the piece for the top. Originally I was intending to stick the flower bit somewhere on the front, but I noticed that it was the same size as the top of the bottle so I decided to glue it on top of the cork. Next, I chose my stones. All of the stones are semi-precious cabochons. The two lighter coloured stones on each side of the bottle are Picture Jasper, the dark coloured stone is Snowflake Obsidian. The stone on the top of the bottle is Brown Goldstone. After I chose each of the stones, I pressed them into the clay on the bottle/bellie to create a setting for it, then removed them again so that I could bake the clay. I put the label on before I baked the bottle, just to see how it looked but it stuck so well without any adhesive that I left it on. I Put the bottle and bellies in the oven @ 130c for 20 minutes. After the items had cooled, I brushed the whole bottle with a mixture of Gold Pearl Ex and Matte Golden Gel Medium. I watered it down quite a bit as I didn't want the Pearl Ex to be too thick and cover the colour of the clay. This was to give it just a bit more shine, as well as sealing the label onto the clay. I glued the stones and the bellie on, using a special two part glue that I got from the place where I order my stones. I also glued the Flower onto the cork with this glue. After the glue dried, I went around the label, bellie on the back and each of the stones with a Pilot gold marker. Next, I took some self-taselling cord and looped it around the neck of the bottle, crimped a piece of wire around it to keep it tight, then tasselled the ends. Finito!
Round bottle:
Basically the same process, except for the snowflake I used a hot glue mould which I made from a rubber stamp. To make a hot glue mould, simply make a puddle of hot glue on any surface that the glue will not stick to. I use a sheet of Teflon. Brush some baby powder or pat an anti-staic bag all over your stamp to keep it from sticking to the glue. When you've got a puddle of glue big enough for your stamp, simply lay the stamp in the glue and press it down. I usually fold my teflon over the stamp and use a large wood mount to press it down so I don't burn myself and I get a flat, even mould. You don't want to press too hard or your stamp will go all the way through the glue and you'll end up with holes in the mould. After the glue is cooled, peel it off the stamp and voila, you have a reusable mould! Just don't use it with anything hot ;o). When moulding, again you'll want to use baby powder or an anti-static bag on the mould to keep the clay from sticking.
On this bottle I decided to wrap cord all the way up the neck. To do this, I cut a channel in the clay from the lip of the neck to the bottom of the neck, then laid one end of the cord through the channel with enough hanging down for the tassel. I wrapped the rest of the cord around the neck starting from the top and working down, so that when I finished I ended up at the same spot where the other cord was coming out from the bottom of the wrap. Cutting the channel in the clay kept the cord smooth around the neck and allowed me to have both ends of the cord at the bottom of the neck, rather than one at the top and one at the bottom. Again, I crimped a piece of wire around the cord, then tasselled the ends.