Wednesday 27 February 2019

WOYWW #508: Altered Bottle

Has it really been three weeks since I last blogged? I honestly thought it was only two. The fact that the sequence of WOYWW has jumped to #508 tells me that three weeks have indeed passed without me even noticing!

I'm back today with an altered bottle. I had an uncontrollable urge to alter a bottle last weekend, so I went ahead without a plan or even a firm idea. The problem with that is that mistakes invariably happen, but it's all part of the learning process. The mistake I made - and not for the first time! - was thinking that I can attach flat metal embellishments (filigrees) to the curved surface of the bottle. Nope, yet again I had to accept that this is not possible, even if I shape the embellishments to follow the curve of the bottle - so I had to abandon that idea. Of course, by that time my perfectly gessoed surface was all messed up, so I had to cover it up somehow. Enter cheese cloth - the perfect solution to hide the mess under!

Here's a photo I took during the process. A small champagne bottle, first black gessoed, then decorated with cheese cloth and lace ribbons, painted with turquoise blue and green acrylics for a patina look.


After this, I dripped some sepia ink all over the bottle to make it more weathered-looking and added some pre-made embellishments that were lying around my desk. They were meant for a tag, which never really materialized, so I just used them on my bottle. This is what I ended up with:



I originally made the embellishments for the Tim Holtz Addicts Facebook group  #THA_Feb challenge, which revisits the 12-tag techniques. The technique for February is paint resist and the creation doesn't have to be a tag - it can be anything as long as the focal point or the majority of the products used are by Tim Holtz.

I used the TH tattered butterfly bigz die and the bingo embossing folder. The script on the butterfly was stamped with white gesso and dunked into diluted distress ink (faded jeans and vintage photo) to achieve the resist effect. It worked remarkably well! The effect on the embossed piece was achieved by rolling white gesso with a brayer over the raised areas and then dunking the paper into the same distress ink mixture. It got a bit soggy but dried nicely. 

After I'd finished this project, I came to the realisation that right in the middle there's a big fat, round number of significance: my birthday coming up next week, eeks! How did that happen? I still remember being a teenager like it was yesterday! 

In other news: we visited this charming, little, quintessentially English church nearby and I was quite taken with its tranquil setting and a colourful coat of arms inside that really reminded me of mixed media arts! 





Just one more picture if you have a minute to spare: here's Oreo sporting a mono-brow again. Since I took this photo, it has fallen out as well, so he is now browless for the time being - he does have lots of fine black eyebrow whiskers, but they're not so prominent. It will take a few weeks for the two white ones to grow back - hopefully at the same time! 


Happy Wednesday Everyone! Hope you have a good week! xx

20 comments:

  1. Hi Zsuzsa, great job on the bottle. Love the colour. That coat of arms is indeed fabulous, and laughing at Oreos mono brow! Have a lovely week, Hugs, Shaz #6 X

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  2. Fab church discoveries & pics. There's something very unique about the atmosphere of an old Church. Beautiful transformation on that bottle, they are a great source of free crafty surfaces. I'm intrigued to know why the metal embellishment would not stick?? Did you try jewellery glue? It may have done the job but obviously you have to lay the bottle down until the glue dries :D I bet there's lots of inspiration flying around that FB group. It's the only thing I miss about FB those lovely little groups I used to be part of.
    I'm wishing you an Early Birthday Happy 40th :)* Mwahhhhhhhhhhhh...
    Happy WoywW Hugs Tracey #7 xx

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  3. Hi Zsuzsa, I really love the bottle, looks amazing and such a vibrant colour, made me want to have a go too.
    I do that too start something without any ideas and then have to cover up mistakes.
    Happy WOYWW
    Jan x no21

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  4. Happy 40th when it comes!
    Love the bottle, obviously I am drawn by the colour and it seems you like that colour judging by the works of art behind it in the picture. Would the metal embellishments not bend? I have made some stick to a curved surface before but cannot remember what I did - maybe hammering or cutting part out?
    Lovely church, funny how we are always drawn to these old churches.
    Hugs, Neet 2 xx

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  5. Wow, that altered bottle is amazing - the colours and decoration are very you! I think British churches are amazing, so much history - have you ever been to Kilpeck in Herefordshire? There's art in abundance there!
    Hugs LLJ 10 xxx

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  6. LOVE the bottle - gorgeous colours! Wee churches have so many hidden treasures... Thanks for the visit :)
    Happy WOYWW!
    Claire no.1

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  7. That bottle is stunning! The church reminds me of the village church I grew up in where I got married 18 years ago - so pretty. Love Oreo! Thanks for sharing. Take care and have a great week. With love Caro x (#26)

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  8. thanks for visiting, and I love the altered bottle! how funny we should both be using cheesecloth! I have a very big significant 0 ending birthday this year too, eek trebled!! Love the church - how beautiful. Helen #4

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  9. Hi Zsuz, loving the bottle and great choice of colours. The coat of arms is a fun piece, it would be interesting to make one of our own. I have to say Oreo does not look impressed with you Lol! Have a good woyww and a lovely creative week, Angela x14x

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  10. Ooh that bottle is lush!! Loving bottle decorating at the mo. Sort of started off one way and seeing so many different ideas = good job my local 'pub' supplies me with empties, I could never drink that much on my own (!!) Happy Wednesday, Cindy #17

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  11. Hi Zsuzsa, Ooh I love the colors and textures of your bottles and wow that church is gorgeous too :) ~Stacy #24

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  12. Love the bottle Zsuzsa, the colours are fabulous. Happy big birthday in advance and welcome to the club lol. Meow to Oreo and happy WOYWW. Sarah #3

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  13. That's an awesome bottle, Zsuzsa...I'm drooling over your turquoise theme and that lovely texture!

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  14. Oh get out of my head. I have been thinking of altering a bottle since I switched to another brand of almond milk. They have these gorgeous shapes that I dread putting in the recycle. I have never altered a bottle before. I love yours. It looks really cool. The almond milk bottle are plastic so I will have to see if all the same mediums you can use on glass will work on it. Maybe I will save them in a box in my basement and then have a bottle altering craft party with a few friends. They would be gorgeous as flower vases in the summer. Just brainstorming here. Thanks for the visit and have a blessed week!
    Belinda #23

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  15. Hi Zsuzsa, sorry to be so late visiting and thanks so much for linkin me up :o) Ooooohhhh your altered bottle is beautiful, I love the patina effect and the gorgeous butterfly.Isn't it great when you discover a brilliant new technique in the course of covering a mistake, that cheesecloth works so well. I loved doing the TH tag series, might revisit those myself, so many good ideas to try. Annie C #19

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  16. I like the patina effect you got on the bottle, that's a talent I don't have, getting effects like that. I just don't have the patience I think... and so it's your birthday next week? Which number do you mean, the one that's in the bottom left I think ;) And what a beautiful church! Visits like that energize the body and mind, isn't it? Thanks for your visit earlier this week, I'm late again with my woyww-visit-round... enjoy your weekend! Hug from Holland! Marit #15

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  17. Im late, sorry. Am smiling at the fact that the filigreed wouldn’t bend to your will and stick on the bottle, and impressed that you gave that up and then carried on to find something else. I would probably have ended up binning the lot. Makes for a lovely ornament miss Zsuzsa!

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  18. Your altered art is always inspiring. Happy Birthday in advance ♥

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  19. WOW! The bottle is amazing! Thanks for sharing. Dorlene #25

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  20. ahhhh Your posts always make me smile! Especially when the last photo is of Oreo!heehee
    Your bottle, in your signature colors, turned out gorgeous!! And why couldn't you add the metal embellies over the cheese cloth? I think they would have held with some of Finn's heavy medium. Anyway, your butterfly is the perfect "POP" piece on this and I just love it!
    Hoping all is well in your world!
    sending lots of love Zsuzsa! xx

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