Bottling It Up

Hello all.  Thank you so much for your lovely response to my Wanderlust Travel Journal.  I hope I'll be able to return some visits over the next few days - I've been a bit distracted lately (all with good things, don't worry - just time-consuming).  I'm back today with my second inspiration offering for Brenda's wonderful "Inspired by Bottles" theme at Country View Challenges.

You've only got a few days before the end of the month, but I hope this might nudge you in to action.  Although there are already lots of great projects, it's always the more, the merrier!






I got a job lot of vintage bottles on Ebay for a very good price, and some have already put in an appearance.

I suppose serious collectors might get antsy about altering old glass bottles, but there seem to be a lot of this type around - and I do have others in my collection which I wouldn't dream of altering!












These were actually pretty simple to do... 

First, a couple of coats of gesso to seal and give some tooth.










Then I stamped the gorgeous Graphic 45 vintage label stamp on to tissue paper with Archival ink.  

(The two in this photo are in fact some others I was also playing with, painted with white crackle paint rather than gesso, and both stamped on natural kraft-coloured tissue paper, but in different coloured inks.)












Of the two I've ended up with here, one is stamped on white tissue paper and one onto kraft tissue paper, but both stamped in black ink.  For some reason I can't find the early stages photos of these ones.  














I couldn't decide which I preferred out of the two tissue papers, so decided to go with one of each.















After all, if they've been standing around for decades in different places with differing amounts of sunlight falling on each of them, they'd have faded differently in any case.














I stamped my favourite PaperArtsy "birds in the grass" along the foot of the bottles.  It just makes me happy!












After that, I applied DecoArt Crackle Glaze in places, just using my fingers mostly.















And once that had crackled nicely, I used various Distress Inks and DecoArt paints to highlight the crackles.













A couple of Idea-ology Muse Tokens are attached with rusty wire...















... wound around the necks of the bottles.













I thought about putting a coat of Ultra Matte Varnish over the top, but the crackle is showing no signs of going anywhere, and I decided I rather liked the gleam of the glaze in the sunlight.













And I really love that embossed lettering along the sides of the bottles too - so glad it has plenty of exposure despite all the ageing. 













And that's pretty much your lot for today.








I hope you like my "antique" bottles, and I hope you'll be "Inspired by Bottles" and come and play along with us at Country View Challenges.

As always, there's a prize voucher on offer from Country View Crafts, and the honour of being one of our Top Three or our Special Mention for the month.  Hope to see you there!

He who pours water hastily into a bottle spills more than goes in.
Spanish Proverb