I came upon this idea one night when I was watching a movie. In the movie, the people were burning candles and the candle holders were wine bottles. I liked the effect of wax dripping down the sides of the bottle and took it a bit further.
Items you will definitely need:
1) Wine bottle – you probably want it emptied… but it could be full if you want to give the wine as a gift too, and who wouldn’t like that? You probably want to remove the labels, unless that is going to be part of your design. Also, consider the color and shape of the bottle itself in your design.
2) Candles – Use whatever colors you like. I find that taper candles are easiest to work with!
3) Modge Podge – Can be found in any craft store, even the craft section of Wal-mart…
Any other items are optional. It just depends on what style or design you are going for. You might want to use scrapbook stickers, or laminated pictures. I would use glue to attach the extra items, but wax could work too… it just dries pretty fast in my opinion.
Instructions for the bottle that is photographed here:
1) Empty the wine bottle and remove labels by running hot water over the labels. They came off real easy with steaming hot water from my kitchen sink… I was surprised. Although, you might want to have an adhesive remover handy if the label gives you trouble. I’ve also used a curved knife in the past and that worked well too without damaging the bottle.
2) I hope you emptied the wine into a glass… so start enjoying it!
3) I found three pictures of me and my friend that I thought would be special to her. I printed them as wallet size images.
4) Then I used my laminator to laminate the pictures. I think they make press-to-seal laminator sheets, but I am not sure how well they look in the end.
5) Arrange the pictures on the bottle to get an idea for the design and spacing you desire. Then glue the images into place.
6) Start at the top of the bottle and with a lit taper candle, let the wax drip. Holding the candle at a right angle to the bottle works best, and sometimes you will need to hold the bottle at an angle too to get the streaks you desire. Practice to see what works best for you. Also, have an idea of the layer of colors and the density of the wax that you desire beforehand. In this case, I knew that I wanted white on the bottom, then green and finally purple. I wanted the wax to cover the glass.
7) After you are satisfied with the design, use a spoon or blunt metal object to scrape the wax from the pictures. Be sure not to press too hard or you might damage the picture.
8) Blow any wax scraps away and go over the edges of the pictures delicately with wax to touch up the scratchy edges.
9) Once the wax has dried, you can cover the completed work in Modge Podge to protect it. That will go on thick and white, but will dry clear.
You can then fill the bottle or give it as a gift as is. I put purple artificial flowers in this one because Heather loves purple! Potpourri and flowers would have been even better.
