Sometimes I see an idea...and it just gets stuck in my head...it intrigues me and stimulates my curiosity...how can I take that inspiration and tweak it...giving it my own twist...and I really won't rest until I give it a shot...
Such was the case with the lovely glass bottles that Kate of Full Circle Studio created for the Artist Collective Sale held last weekend...
Kate used her own collage images on the bottles...the same flavor of images that grace her switchplate covers, her tea towels and her paperweights...a distinctive vintage vibe with a modern interpretation...
Lately I had been playing with vintage bottles (as seen here...) and had a couple of bottles left...I gave myself an afternoon to experiment...
First I printed out some of my graphic images onto drafting transfer paper...this is what I had available in the studio...since I used my inkjet printer for color copies, the ink smeared when I began to adhere the transfer to the bottle...even waiting for the ink to dry overnight did not totally set the image...
so onto plan B...and now the creative distraction is on its second day...but I am determined to figure this out!
I turned to my stash of printed paper napkins...separating the 3-ply napkins and using only the top printed ply, I thought this sheet would be thin enough to lay smoothly on the bottle...
A coating of Elmer's glue was painted on the front face of the bottle...
and then the single ply sheet of the napkin was gently laid on top...
being ever so careful to smooth out the air bubbles without tearing the paper...
After the bottle was completely dry, I wiped off the excess dried glue and then very lightly sanded the paper napkin area to make it as smooth as possible...
and then I sealed the paper layer with a coat of wax...
Let me interject here...an earlier post talked about my favorite tools...
my favorite supplies - by far and away - are Elmer's glue and Johnson's paste wax
I like using Elmer's because it has a long drying time...which gives me a little bit more latitude in working to position an image in just the right position...but the downside to Elmer's is that it is water-based...and any moisture will activate the glue to become sticky...this is where the Johnson's paste wax comes in...using a layer of wax seals the surface and makes it impenetrable to moisture...and the plus side is the slight sheen on the surface that results from buffing the wax...
and yes...I buy my Elmer's by the gallon...
Back to the bottles...if you're keeping track...my afternoon of distraction is now on day three...the surface of the bottles are glued and waxed...all I do is add a few snippets of ribbon, string or wire...and the bottles are complete...
I like how the paper napkin ended being so translucent...this is the front of the egg bottle...
and this is the view from the back of the bottle...
with the image on the front showing through...
Each bottle has its own extra touch...the egg bottle has a feather tied on the neck...the French bottle has a red glass heart...and a postage stamp that I added before I waxed the surface...
The fern bottle has a handmade tag...my recent love of metal paper fasteners led me to snip off the end of one fastener, sanding the edges smooth...trimming a fortune cookie slip to size...gluing it inside the recessed area of the fastener...and adding a metal ball chain to dangle the tag from the bottle's neck...
Distraction over...curiosity sated...back to work at hand...
Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Party Junk...more distractions over there!
