Fairy in a Bottle

 

I have a thing for bottles....I like to melt them in my kiln and I have been known to buy wine because I like the color or shape of the bottle.  So when my husband saw a very nice blue bottle of a particular adult beverage, he thought 'I bet my wife would like that bottle'.  (sure, that's what he was thinking... ;)  Unfortunately, this bottle design does not work well for melting, so I wanted to find another way to reuse it.  I had seen "Fairies in a Jar" on the internet and decided to make my own version....Fairy in a bottle.

The first step was to cut the bottle.  I have an old fashioned bottle cutter.  There are new ones on the market - I'm not sure if they are easier or not, but if you go to diamondtechcrafts.com, they have lots of information on cutting bottles.  Once the bottle was cut and sanded it was time for the fun part.

First the fairy:  The fairy's body and head are made from white polymer clay. Roll the clay thru a pasta maker on the thickest setting and then trim it to be about 3" square.  Cut the square in half and place an eye pin in the center of one piece of clay, so that the eye is about 1/4" from the top edge and the shaft extends up beyond the clay.  Place the second piece on top so that they sandwich the eye pin - pressing slightly to adhere the two pieces.

Coat the clay in Art Glitter Blue Angel Ultrafine Pearlescent.  Cut a long teardrop shape in  the clay and cover the newly exposed sides in Art Glitter Purple Lame Ultrafine Opaque.  Then gently twist the teardrop into a spiral - the Fairy's body.  Use some of the excess clay to roll a ball for the head - coat it in Blue Angel glitter and put it on the pin.  Spin the head a little bit at this point so that it is lose on the pin - you'll want to be able to slide it off the pin after baking.  Bake the head and body according to clay manufacturer's instructions.

After baking, I didn't feel that there was enough glitter - I wanted the purple to really pop - so I ran a little Designer Dries Clear Adhsive down the edges of the spiral and coated them with more of the Purple Lame glitter.

Art Glitter Bellflower Fantasy Fiber was used to create the hair.  Set a clump of it on a teflon sheet and cover with another teflon sheet and then iron just in the center to bond the fibers.  Glue to the top of her head then put the head back on the pin.  Pull the "hair" back to form a lose, low ponytail and glue in place using more Designer Dries Clear Adhesive.  I just wanted the fiber to create the look of hair and a sparkling aura, so lose and messy is fine.  Trim the pin and round it to form a loop at the top of her head that will be used to dangle her in the bottle.

The wings were made with Sunkissed Fantasy Film from Art Glitter and glittered with Blue Agnel UF Pearlescent, Purple Lame UF Opaque, Crystal UF Transparent, Horizon UF Transparent.  There are links to great youtube videos on the Art Glitter website for working with Fantasy Film and Glittering butterfly wings.  I'll post the links at the end of this post as well.  After the wings are dry, bend them slightly and then glue them in place with more Designer Dries Clear Adhesive.

The bottle was decorated using Stazon Silver Ink and a flourish stamp.  When I stamp on rounded glass, I like to use clear stamps without an acrylic block.  After inking the stamp, I carefully place it on the bottle - holding it in place with one hand, while I tap it to go around curves with the other hand.  The nice thing about stamping on glass, is that you can remove it if it looks bad.  But don't stress too much about getting perfect stamps, because this flourish becomes a background and you don't notice it as much once you get the glitter on. Paint Designer Dries Clear Adhesive on the neck of the bottle and then sprinkle Crystal glitter onto that.  Then begin a free-form dotted scroll pattern by making dots of 3D Embossit on the bottle.  After each small section, stop to coat the dots with Crystal Glitter.  You want to be putting the glitter on while the glue is still white and looks wet.  Then make a simple dot pattern at the bottom with little trios of dots going around the bottom of the bottle - again using the Emboss it and sprinkling with Crystal glitter.  Once this is dry, use a soft brush to brush off the excess glitter.

Dangle the fairy inside the bottle by poking a hole in the bottle cap.  Tie clear beading wire to the loop at the top of the fairy's head and then bring the end of that that wire up thru the top of the bottle.  HINT:  tie a bead or something to the wire so you can drop it down the neck of the bottle from inside the bottle.   Once you have the thread coming out the top of the bottle, you can remove the bead, thread the cord thru the hole in the bottle cap and then put the bottle cap on the bottle.  Tie a crystal at the top to hold the thread in place and send the excess thread back thru the hole in the bottle cap.

NOTE:  If you don't have a bottle cutter but wanted to try this project, you could do this in a jar, or make your fairy small enough that you can put her in the bottle from the top.  Since the wings are Fantasy Film, they could be wrapped around the fairy to drop her into the bottle and they would fluff back out once they had room to unwrap.  (Make sure you have her tied onto the bead wire and don't let go, because once she's in there I don't think you'd be able to get her out!)

Supplies used:
Bottle
Bottle Cutter (see Diamond Tech Crafts)
White Polymer Clay
Eye Pin
Art Institute Glitter:
#183 Blue Angel Ultrafine Pearlescent, #157 Purple Lame Ultrafine Opaque,  #85 Crystal Ultrafine Transparent, #269 Horizon Ultrafine Transparent
Art Institute Adhesives:
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
3D Embossit
Art Institute Fantasy Film and Fantasy Fiber:
Fantasy Film - Sunkissed
Fantasy Fiber - Bellflower

Helpful Links:
How to glitter a butterfly: http://artglitter.com/retail/Rrainbowbutterfly.html
How to make a Fantasy Film Dragon Fly:  http://artglitter.com/retail/rfantasyfilmdragonfly.html