ANTIQUE WINE BOTTLES

A few months ago I started noticing "antique" wine bottles used for decoration in some of the many catalogs that appear  daily in my mailbox.  I loved the look but did not love the $75 and up price tag (they were not really antique either but made to look that way) and decided that a replica could be made and I started saving some wine bottles. If you have a wine lover on your Father's Day list these would be so great paired with some of his favorite wine or wine accessory. They are decorative on their own but would look smart on a wine cart or any area where you are serving wine to your friends.

 I chose the Silver unoaked Chardonnay for it's unique shape  this wine gets almost as much attention for it's bottle as it does for the wine.  The bottom of the pottery bottle is somewhat reminiscent of Japanese pottery and it even has a makers mark stamped onto the side.  I chose the Melange for it's shape and color.  If you are going to try this with the lighter glass bottles I think you would want to try coating them with oil and letting them "bake" in a slow oven for a few hours to allow the oil to bake to the glass giving it an aged look.  I have not tried this but think it would be sort of like seasoning a cast iron pan.

 The first thing I did was to go over to the Graphic's Fairy and pick out some labels. I chose a "carte postale" an old French postcard and some old sheet music.  I have a musical friend who I know would love this bottle.  I printed them out on 8 1/2 x 11 full sheet labels. The reason I printed out two of each is because the Silver bottle has print on the back that cannot be removed so it needed to be covered too and I printed out the second music label because I intend to use it on the front of a gift card when I give the bottle to my friend. Link below for the graphics.

 So after removing the label from the tall bottle and washing them both in soap and water, apply the labels to the bottles.  Already they are looking better.

Several ways to add the sealing wax.  You can find stickers that are sealing wax, you can use the traditional wax (in the forefront) that you light and drip and then use one of the seals.  I chose to use the wax in the back which goes into your glue gun.  I put the wax on a piece of coated paper, let it dry a bit and then used my fleur de lis seal (what else it is a carte postale after all). You could try and do this on the bottle but because of the curve of the bottle I would not recommend.  What I did was to just glue the wax to the side of the bottle and you don't need to worry about placement, the wax dripping, etc.

 After the glue dries on the sealing wax it's time to "antique." I confess I was flying by the seat of my pants here and thinking of all the things I could use and then for one reason or another crossing them off my list and then it hit me - Annie Sloan dark wax!  It worked perfect and gave the bottles and the labels a nice old patina.  I just applied a thin coat using some cheese cloth.  The wax dries but leaves this nice patina.  Once again thank you Annie Sloan!

Resource

The Graphic's Fairy, Music Graphic 
The Graphic's Fairy, Carte Postale
Full Sheet 8 1/2 x 11 Label, Avery® White Full-Sheet Labels for Inkjet Printers with  TrueBlock(TM) Technology, 8-1/2 inches x 11 inches, Pack of 25 (8165)
Wax Stickers, Zazzle
Annie Sloan Wax, Google Annie Sloan and find a dealer in your area and you can find sellers on Ebay.

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