I simply love to recycle, upcycle and repurpose so this
project using a recycled wine bottle and a set of cheap cocktail glasses from
the charity shop was a perfect project for me. I also used some of my old T
shirts and fabric scraps too.
This set is now perfect for any festive or celebratory occasion. The bottle
could be used either as a decanter (by using with a bottle stopper or cork) or
used with a slim candle to adorn the table. Using Powertex enables items to be
easily washed too.
Materials used:
- Recycled wine bottle, set of old cocktail glasses
- Recycled T shirt and cotton sheet, knitted fabric, canvas mesh and hessian
(burlap) scraps
- Kitchen paper
- Plaster
figurine small face
- 3D
Sand
- Stone Art
- Mixed silicone moulds from my stash – leaves and fruit (mainly from Katy Sue
Designs)
- Synthetic Brushes
- Powertex Fabric Hardener: Blue, Bronze, Ivory and Transparent
- Ready Mixed Bister Liquids: Brown, Red
- Powercolor Pigments: Ultramarine,
Burgundy,
Titanium
White
- Colotricx Pigment: Rich
Gold
- The Secret Art Loft Pigments: Green
Ginger, Violet
Valentine, Blue
Curacao, Limoncello
Gold, Tequila
Sunrise
- The Secret Art Loft Acrylic Paints: Lemon
Meringue, Raspberry
Sorbet, Plum
Pudding, Blueberry
Pie, Mint
Jelly, Key
Lime, Orange
Marmalade
- Easy Varnish
How it was done:
The bottle was actually a project that I started on my level 1 Powertex Tutor
training. I was fairly happy with it but I had always wanted to take it a few
steps further. I am definitely a ‘more is more’ type of girl and I wanted to add
extra embellishments to complete it – but what? Sadly it got confined to the
corner for over a year before the idea finally came to me when I came home from
the charity shop with my set of cocktail glasses.
The lemon coloured glasses inspired citrus, the blue coloured
glasses inspired berries – yay – off we go!
Starting with my
bottle: Blue Powertex medium was used to coat recycled T shirt fabrics and
hessian which was draped around the bottle to give texture. Kitchen paper was
separated into single ply and blue Powertex was used to glue it around the neck
of the bottle to give added texture. Blue Powertex was also used to paint and
glue the plaster face.
Eeeek – I was freaking out a bit this stage as it looked
awful. I will say that this was part of the training. We were given a few challenges!
The blue is a gorgeous colour but not necessarily the easiest for your first
ventures. If you are a beginner I would recommend starting with Bronze Powertex
and colouring as I did for the blue glasses as given below; achieving a similar
final result with less palpitations – tee hee.
Spritzing with Brown and Red Bister gave a nice purple muted
effect which was lovely, and also blended in the darker T shirt material nicely.
Powercolor and Colortricx Pigments were mixed with Easy Varnish and dry brushed
over the piece to highlight textures. The dry brushing really does make so much
difference! Ooooh much happier now, but as I said – it needed more work in my
mind.
Now for the
embellishments: With fruit embellishments in mind I mixed up some Stone Art
with Ivory Powertex to make a clay and used silicone moulds to make citrus
slices, nuts, leaves and berries. Once dry I used Secret Art Loft Acrylics to
paint them.
When painting the fruit slices the outer ring of pith was
left unpainted. Dry brushing with Ivory Powertex was used to highlight the central
pith texture and make the lemon slices look more realistic.
The same with the orange slices.
The berries and nuts were
also painted with Secret Art Loft Acrylics. I mixed colours to give a more naturalistic
look.
Varying colour mixes and depth.
Purples, pinks, oranges and green mixes were used to colour
the berries. Once coated with varnish (last steps) they looked quite realistic.
Various fruits, nuts and leaves were used to embellish the
bottle. Items were stuck down using
Transparent Powertex. Where needed 3D sand was mixed with Bronze Powertex in
order to make a 3D glue to stick down shaped embellishments on the textural surface.
Yay – fulfilling my ‘more is more’ – ha ha.
Secret Art Loft pigments were mixed with varnish and were
dry brushed over textured areas and over the berries to give extra pearlescent
sheen.
Coloured Powertex is weatherproof and therefore washable.
Acrylic paint layers were further protected by painting with Easy varnish to
ensure that the bottle was fully washable. The varnish also enhanced the
painting and gave the fruits and berries a lovely sheen. Happy bunny.
Next to decorate the
glasses: I collected together varied
textural fabrics. The blue background is my plastic shower curtain that I use
to cover my bench – joyous messiness evident!
The glass stems and base of the bowls were painted with a
coat of bronze Powertex. Any drips were removed with a damp cloth. T shirt
fabric was cut into strips and stretched to make a ‘cord’ for wrapping the
stems. More fabrics and T shirt strips were coated with Bronze Powertex and
wrapped around the glass bowls. The T shirt cord held everything in place around
the top of the glasses while drying. I applied the main 3D texture just to one
face, leaving the backs flatter (otherwise they might get in the way when
drinking from the glasses). The smoother stems made them easy and comfortable to
hold.
The blue glasses were embellished with berries and textures enhanced
with dry brushing using the blue/purple toned Secret Art Loft Pigments.
Oooh yummy.
The yellow glasses were embellished with citrus slices and textures
enhanced with dry brushing using the citrus and gold toned Secret Art Loft
Pigments.
More yummy.
I hope that you like my celebratory table set. I really
enjoy making these – and using now them - special glasses seem to make the
contents more special too.
Happy crafting, Anne x.
