Bottle Book – Upcycled Home Decor

Hello Friends. I hope you all are doing great. DT member Vidhu Thareja back on the blog with a new inspirational project.

Today I am presenting an altered bottle project. I personally love to upcycle discarded and unattended objects. I believe that this way we can contribute to our mother nature. So I have done a make-over of an empty glass bottle and converted it into a beautiful decor piece.  I have a step wise picture tutorial for you all. So let’s start this exciting project…But  first  have  a look  at  my  project….

I started with cleaning the bottle by soaking it in warm water mixed with vinegar.  I removed the labels and dried it. After that, I cleaned the bottle with rubbing alcohol.

I wanted to create some texture on the bottle so I have pasted pieces of kitchen towel with the help of Little Birdie Deco Magic Glue. I have diluted the glue with very little water. Pasting tissue not only creates a texture but it prepares the base for other mediums, which you may want to use on top.

I left it to dry and then applied a thin coat of Deco Magic Glue so that the pieces of the kitchen towel do not peel off. 

Now comes the most interesting part of the project. I wanted to give a look of a book to my bottle. So I needed a base for that. For the purpose I used cardboard pieces of a discarded cookie packing.  I cut the cardboard into 3 pieces, according to the size of the bottle.  I had  burlap  sheets in my stash., bought from the store. I  cut  the  burlap  and  pasted  them  on  one  side  of  the  cardboard  pieces  and  folded the  extra  on  the  other  side.  Here  I have  used  Little  Birdie  Extra  PVA  Glue.  I left  them to  dry.

On the narrow side of the bottle, I wanted to create the look of pages and for that I have used Little Birdie Mixed Media Paste. I applied it with the help of a palette knife and then used an old comb to create the effect of pages.

When the mixed media paste dried, I pasted the cardboard pieces, covered with burlap on 3 sides with the help of same PVA Glue.

I left it to dry. This takes some time to dry. I kept on pressing it from all the sides to ensure that all the 3 pieces stick properly. 

Now it is turn to create the cover of the book. I could do decoupage directly on the burlap but instead of that I decided to do something  more interesting. I used Little Birdie ‘Shape It’ epoxy clay. I rolled the clay with the help of a rolling pin and cut it according to the size of the base. I pasted it on top of the cover with the help of PVA Glue and folded the edges of the clay. I left it to dry and then did the same on the other side of the cover too.

It takes around one hour to dry. When it dried completely, I sanded the clay with the help of a medium density sandpaper and then applied 2 coats of Little Birdie Acrylic Gesso – White.  Now it comes to decoupage. I chose a pretty tissue from my stash and removed the edges of the tissue using wet brush technique and adhered the tissue with Little Birdie Deco Magic Glue Matte.

Then, I did some colour blending around the tissue with Little Birdie Chalk Paints – Fortune Cookie and Wild Wasabi.

I wanted to add some interest on the narrow side of the cover. I had some clay embellishments, which I had made long back. I decided to use them now and made a ‘Clock’ shape embellishment, using the left over ‘Shape It’ clay. To do that,  I have used a silicone mold ‘Antique Pillars’ from the store.  I have  used  PVA  Glue  to  stick  them.  

Now it is turn to colour the narrow side, embellishments, and the top portion. I applied Little Birdie Black Gesso with a flat brush and let it dry.

To highlight the texture and embellishments I did dry brushing with Camel  Artists Metallic Color – Antique Gold and rubbed Little Birdie Metallic Wax – Antique Gold And Rich Gold randomly to get the desired finish.

Before applying black Gesso, I have sealed the adhered tissue with Little Birdie Deco Magic Glue – Glossy and Decor Varnish – Gloss respectively, leaving enough drying time between the coats of varnish. It is very important to seal the tissue or paper before playing around the mediums or colours because it gives us the freedom to apply colour without worrying about spoiling our adhered tissue. When I am done with the whole colouring and the highlighting part, I will seal the whole project with a coat of Decor Varnish. Since I have used metallic wax, I have to wait for 24 hours before I can apply the varnish.

Finally tied 2 antique charms with the help of a jute cord I had bought from Itsy Bitsy.A beautiful home decor piece is ready. 

Sharing a few more pictures of my project….

Hope you enjoyed the process as much as I did!

 am excited to inform you  that all these products come with a unique QR code!

Point your mobile phone at the QR code on the product & scan them  to take you directly to our YouTube links where you can see how each of these products are used! Check out all our new products for QR codes in the future ( this will be either on the label or on cap of the bottle).

Use code VIDHU5 to buy any product at  www.itsybitsy.in and get 5% discount on your total bill.

See you next time!

Keep crafting!

Vidhu Thareja

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