Altered Bottles - Next Steps

Jenn Francis and I spent the good part of the day attaching things to vintage bottles. This time, we both upped the ante and attempted to go beyond what others have done with this artsy craft idea.

After our initial trials and eventual success in securing shells to bottles and then applying an interesting patina to the solder, we knew that there was more to this than being merely decorative.

The easiest and quickest thing to do was to place things; sand, beach glass and smooth river stones inside the bottles. These internal elements provide some stability to the top-heavy finished product but also it looks cool.

Jenn then placed a place card holder (an element orginally produced by Seven Gypsies) made from twisted wire. Suddenly, the bottle had function and provided an additional option for adding a written statement of some sort to the thing.

I gathered together some microscope slide "charms" (made by sandwiching mini-collages between the slides which are then sealed with copper tape and solder) to add even more visual elements to the bottle.


This proved to open the project to many more possibilities for artistic expression, again beyond the merely decorative.

After we gathered them together, it was agreed it would be difficult to break up the set...or that to create new, complete and cohesive sets of altered bottles.

My next step is to just go into multiples that can be seen as an assemblage made up of individual pieces grouped together.

Also, attaching something other than the expected shells is a natural progression. I've tried large pieces of glass and slides.

Next steps - more found objects as well as other natural objects.

Stay tuned.

NOTE: The patina on the solder still needs to be applied to many of the pictured bottles.

Altered Art Boxes - Loteria and Le Jeu

Two samples for the upcoming Arts de Mer Cruise. The theme this year is "The Game of Art."

I've got at least one more to finish as well as building a few in stages for demo purposes. Having a good time with these.

You will notice a change from the original "Loteria" box. Re-worked it completely, actually.

Loteria Box - "Altered Art"

This March will mark the fourth year of teaching a short workshop on the Arts de Mer cruise. Mary Jo McGraw, Tim Holtz and Robin Knutson will also be presenting their cool stuff as well.

The theme this year is "The Game of Art" so in keeping with the theme, my workshop participants will be creating a box that can be used to hold game pieces, playing cards, ATC's or whatever else strikes their creative fancy.

The initial project was a paper-based box project, but given the time constraints involved and the complexity of proper box making, I changed course last month and began to look at various objects trying to determine if it could be altered into a box-like structure.

While in IKEA recently, I spied a pile of smallish picture frames and the project came together immediately.

The frames are stripped of everything except the actual wooden frame to serve as the box's top and bottom. The sides are made of wood lath, carefully cut to fit within the frame.

Chipboard, thin luan ply or mat board is fitted into the frame to serve as the box's lid and bottom. The lid should be collaged or enhanced before the rest of the box is painted.

Once dry, the box may be painted, finished or otherwise embellished as desired.

In keeping with the cruise's theme, I've used images from the Mexican game of "Loteria."

I love Loteria images and could almost see them used as a kind of Tarot, as each image seems to have a story to tell well beyond the label each one is assigned.

The legs of the box are made of chess pawns.

I'll probably touch up the finish as I got a little carried away with the "distressing" and I may place wee handles on each side of the lid. We'll see.

I've got to make a couple more samples in differing heights, but it is late and my muse is already snoring loudly in my ears.