Some old Shabby bottles....How to antique a bottle

Hello again.  This post is dedicated to all my Shabby loving friends; I hope you enjoy it.

Today I tried my hand at altering bottles.  It's the first time I've ever tried and naively thought it would be as easy as just pasting some pretty papers and wrapping a ribbon onto a bottle. 

 But it's actually a beautiful art that I have yet to learn....

(This is an untouched picture so you can better appreciate the details of the antiquing on the bottle)

I used some of the beautiful Crafty Secret paper scraps to adorn the bottles, along with some of the beautiful vintage pages from the free printables that Sandy shares  on her blog.

 She currently has several Mother's Day free printables available.

I'm not sure when my love for Vintage and Shabby began, but perhaps it comes from an appreciation of the care and time it would have taken to craft handmade items in the past.

There were no glue guns to speed up the gluing process or double sided tape or fancy cutters.  Everything was done slowly and by hand.

I have been collecting old silverware for a while and this beautiful mirror and brush set is one of my favourites.  I love second hand stores and good finds.

These bottles were also acquired at our local 

thrift store, but they did not start this way...

Because my original idea was to make these beachy (I was going to make them their own shell stopper), I tinted them using the same technique seen here.  If you wish to keep them clear, you can skip this step  but remember that you can make them any colour you would like.

Once the tint dried, I used an old brush to stipple some more 'tinting formula'.  I concentrated on the areas where the accumulation of the naturally occurring mineral deposits of old bottles would be most common (the bottom and at mouth of the bottle).

- If you are going to skip the colouring process, use matte Modpodge for this step.

Allow tint to dry and with your fingers, apply a light coat of wall plaster.  You can put as much or as little as you want. 

 I put some at the bottom and at the opening of the bottles.

 This is where things get a little weird, but stay with me....

Take some instant coffee powder and while plaster is almost dry, dab some of the coffee onto the plaster with your fingers.  It will look a little yellow, but that's ok, we will fix it in a minute.

With a damp (almost dry) paper towel, remove some of the coffee staining and gently apply another very thin layer of plaster over the area (at this point you are experimenting until you acquire the desired look).

I found that the coffee made the plaster a little too yellow, so I went back and applied some dirt from my garden to tone down the yellow tint. 


Continue to play with it until you are happy with the results.  The good news is that if you are really dissatisfied with it, you can simply soak it in warm soapy water and start over, but you might need to do a little scrubbing as the plaster will stick to the bottle. 

I think the bottles look 'tres feminine' and a little more realistic in person.  What do you think?  Believable?
  
So there you go - my first ever antique bottle altering.  I have a lot to learn but it was a lot of fun trying out different looks for the bottles.  I have a feeling this is not the last time you will be seeing me do this...:)


Have you ever done any bottle altering?  Any tips for me?


Thanks again for you sweet company.


much love,
Lucy 


ps - it's hard to believe that the weekend is here again. Please don't forget to enter the Shabby Apple giveaway (if you haven't done so) as the giveaway will close Friday at midnight and I will be announcing the winner on Saturday afternoon....Good luck!









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