My bird themed altered bottle

- May 25, 2014

Have you ever altered a bottle? I just finished my first one: it's for a Bird Song 4 swap.

It's a raffle drawing-style swap so who ends up with it is anyone's guess!

I decided to stick with a low-color palette this time and it was an adventure from start to finish.

First I had to find an old bottle. Bottles are not something (believe it or not) I collect, so finding just the right one was a challenge. I finally found a true vintage one at a street market a few weeks ago.

I chose this one because if has a rather flat front that I knew would take well to altering, as well as some interest in the ribbing on the reverse, above.

The hardest part for me was figuring out a stopper or cork for the bottle. I actually bought some glass bottle stoppers online from an Etsy vintage seller but neither fit in the bottle I'd found. Since I was pretty attached to the bottle, plan B was to make my own.

I fashioned the bird's nest from silver 'angel hair' that I glued to the top of a cork.

Then, I hand sewed some eyelash yarn through the nest to give it some nest-like texture.

The sweet bird on top was part of a raffle gift I won from one of Karla's past events.

I love the thought of it returning to roost at another one.

The blingy gimp style velvet fabric around the bottle's neck is also something I got at a past Birdsong, from vendor night. Below the neck, I added a beautiful old piece of costume jewelry that looks like rhinestones, and some of my favorite tatted lace.

The bird image I used was a free download from my ueber-talented blogging friend, Viola; here's a link to the actual download at her blog. As you can see, I lightened it up considerably by dry brushing white paint over it and then using different pens to add shadow and outline.

I used some of my favorite vintage white pieces to embellish the area above the egg: spun cotton, beaded wire, etc.

I decided I loved both the weight and the soft look of mother-of-pearl buttons, so I filled the bottle part way with some of those vintage 'gems' for an extra bit of beauty.

Finally, I tied some vintage baubles around the neck for balance: an old key, some beads and buttons, old lace threaded through a pearl, and a wooden feather.