Friday, April 13, 2012

NEW Version of the Plastic Bottle Vase

I know what you're thinking, this is going to be just another spray painted bottle turned vase-but no. I really love all the tutorials out there that shows you how to up-cycle a pretty shaped bottle of any kind and turn it into a vase. Some look fantastic while some, you can pretty much tell that it's a screw cap glass or plastic bottle under all the paint. Not fooling me buddy! This all may look very complicated but it was probably the easiest, fastest project I've ever done.

To get a decent looking outcome of these items below (notice how pretty the shapes are?) You have to do some EASY cutting or drilling. Depending on what you have on hand at the time. No need to go out and buy a drill if we are trying to cut costs here with this project to begin with...

Things you will need:
  1. Serrated Knife or Drill
  2. Plastic Bottles 
  3. Acrylic Paint and Brush or Spray Paint
  4. Stove or Heat Source (Candle)
Below are the same bottles in the image above. Some have their caps on, some had a portion of their neck cut down a bit.
Below, this image shows you how you can use your serrated knife...
  1. This bottle neck is a dead give away that it's a lotion bottle.
  2. These are the different areas marked in red dashed lines where you can cut, it's up to you.
  3. I used Photoshop to digitally "cut" off a portion for you to see.
This is another example in Photoshop, but it is with the bottle cap on. Use your drill if you have one to make a hole big enough to fit the size of your flower stem or branch etc. Drill a few holes if you do not have a big enough drill bit. Paint the entire bottle AND cap.
I didn't feel like bringing out the drill so I used my serrated steak knife to cut off the top portion of my bottle. I started painting to test out how the color would look...Try to cut/drill BEFORE you paint of course...
**NOTE: Leave the cap ON. Unscrew it just enough so that your blade fits snug in between the bottle and its cap like shown below. The cap acts as a clamp and ensures an even, level cut.
Turn your stove on and place the knife blade (mid-blade) in the fire for about 4-5 seconds. Cut through the bottle. (This does not ruin the knife) It should cut through smoothly with little effort. If not, place in the fire for a bit longer and cut again.
This is how it should look. It was a pretty easy, decent cut. I used sandpaper to make it even more smooth but its not necessary. 
This was the best part, painting it! I mixed white acrylic with my green and repainted it to tone the color down. I let it dry and then mixed white and brown paint to add texture. I'm not really a good painter but I think it came out okay. Keep adding layers of paint to get a stone/ceramic texture. Either way you can never mess it up.
Enjoy! Please share and Pin me!
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3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the idea. love the shape of this bottle, what was it originally??

    ReplyDelete
  2. use one of those "hammered" finish spray paints and the humble beginnings of these vases will be even harder to guess!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks --It was originally a Jergens lotion bottle...
    Thanks KC--that's a great idea!

    ReplyDelete

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