la bouteille.

When I have the time, I like to do some handmade crafts for my friends and family. I got into it when my mother forced my brother and I to make gifts for our teachers during Christmas and at the end of the year. I was actually pretty good at it. I like to think that the crafted objects are still on a bookshelf somewhere.

This holiday season, I wanted to do the same thing as I couldn't bring a ton of stuff over from France, and the thought of buying American goods seemed lackluster. So I decided to do something à la française for mes amis. I'll take you through the project and hopefully you'll be able to find some inspiration for your next gift idea.

I began searching around a West Elm home goods store, figuring that all of my friends could use something for their apartments. I had no luck finding anything specific, so I bought four glass bottles. Two of them were made using recycled glass! Even better.

Intent on decorating these bottles, I decided on the use of stained glass painting materials to decorate. Armed with my bottles and paint, I set to work making the bottles.




 La Bouteille

What You'll Need:

-clear glass bottle
-permanent marker
-nail polish remover
-cotton q-tips
-stained glass paint materials (can be found at any crafts store, your local Hobby Lobby/ Michael's, etc.)
       have both the paint and liquid leading which will be used as the outer lining for the paint
-toothpicks or bamboo skewers (anything pointy that can be the quill to your liquid leading)
-anything you think should be added as decoration

First, I suggest you find a stencil or pattern that can be used as a guide once you start applying the liquid leading. I chose a French symbol, the fleur de lys which can be seen on the table. I originally wanted to do a paisley pattern but it would have been too complex for the four bottles I needed to complete in two days.

I have an incredibly messy workspace. 

Since I was not comfortable with free handing my design with the liquid leading, I chose to draw it first with permanent marker, then go over it later with the leading.
You can faintly see the permanent marker lines on the glass cup that I did a trial run on. To avoid this, use the nail polish remover to remove the unwanted markings that will not be a part of your stencil. It's easier to do before you apply the liquid leading, but you must remove the markings before you start filling in your design with the paint. Or else you'll end up with unattractive black lines in your design.

After drawing the stencil, prepare the liquid leading by giving it a good shake, then putting a dollop on some paper. Then, use your toothpick/pointed writing device to go over the permanent marker lines. This is fairly easy, but tedious and time consuming. For better stability, I placed my bottle in a drying towel rolled to prop it up.

When you think the liquid leading has dried (about 30 minutes), fill the inside of the design with your paint of choice. I suggest putting on two coats of paint to really showcase the color. For my project, I decided to make all the fleurs de lys one color. In the pictures, I chose "pearl white." My favorite was a magenta color placed on a green bottle. Quite beautiful.

You will need to wait several hours for the paint to completely dry. Otherwise, you risk the running of the paint, or nick marks from other objects.

And then you're done with the bottle!

I added some kitchen twine tied in a bow and fresh flowers to complete my gifts. I thought it was a bit empty with just the bottle, but it's all about personal preference. You could also buy a cheap bottle of American wine, put it in the bottle with a cork, and then try and pass it off as a fancy French wine...just saying.

turtleneck: Uniqlo, jeans: H&M, shoes: Steve Madden, necklace: gift

Happy Bottle-ing!