Creative micro bottles with handmade stoppers

    Miniature craft bottles can be had from an array of sources. E_Bay, and Amazon just to name a few, but I avidly recycle and believe nothing should go to waste. To that end I found that red ginseng comes in these little glass amber bottles. Ginseng can be found in your local health food store or Asian market. They come in delightful cardboard boxes, 10 or more to a box, that I also use in my craft projects, but that's another story.

                                                                           

    As for the cost of the miniature glass bottles, it may be cheaper to simply buy them on eBay, unless you're like me and you're already using ginseng. After you have consumed the contents of the bottle, it is a simple  matter of using a pair of pliers to carefully remove the metal cap. Once you have removed the metal cap, thoroughly rinse the inside of the bottle. Note: The ginseng once dry, is harder to remove, so it is easier to clean if you rinse the bottle right after consuming the contents. 

     

    When you have accumulated several bottles, soak the bottles overnight in a bowl of water. This will loosen the label and make it easy to remove by simply rubbing the label off with your fingernails or popsicle stick.

    Once you have your clean bottles obtain a wood dowel that is slightly larger than the diameter of the mouth of the bottle. Cut the dowels in 1 inch lengths and sand one end to snugly fit the mouth of the bottle to make your bottle stopper. A pencil sharpener may work also, but you may want to sand afterward with fine sandpaper to smooth any rough edges. Then using a rotary tool, or sanding disk you can shape the top of the bottle stopper to a half round or a smaller dowel shaft on which you can affix your pony beads. Remember that the upper shaft needs to be just small enough for the beads to slip on with some glue. Don't make your shafts too small or you might break the stopper when you try to remove it from the bottle. I have found that the half-moon design( bottom left ) is a more sturdy design and saves the expense of using beads and is easier to grip when removing the stopper. That said, the bottles with the beads are more appealing, and are a better seller.

Once you have your stoppers complete you can paint them or add beads depending on the style stopper created. 

    When your bottle is finished it is ready for whatever you may want to put in them, dry spices, trinkets, talisman,etc. keep in mind I have not tested these bottles with liquids such as oils or perfumes and if your stopper is not a perfect fit they may leak. 

    So there you have your crafty little bottles that are perfect for decoration, little love notes, wishes and more. They make a great conversation piece or decoration with ribbons and bows on packages.

So happy crafting, and have a great day from the Nevada Crafter at nevadacrafter.com.

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Custom decorated keys

    So there has been many a time I've gone into the hardware store to get a new key. And there on some rack you see displayed decorative keys. You think to yourself "How nice it would be to tell the difference between the different keys on your keychain." But when you look at the price of a custom key you find sticker shock, or you find that your key does not come in custom designs. So here's an idea on how to decorate your own keys so you can tell the difference between your house key, your car keys or whatever.

(1)  First you want to roughen up the surface of the area that you're going to paint. (Do not sand or roughen the part that goes into lock, as you may change the shape of your key. As a result, the key may not work. ) You can use emery cloth or the tip of a screwdriver. The reason for ruffing up the surfaces is so that the paint will stick better.

     A Dremel with an abrasive tip works best.

(2)  Find some cheap nail polish to use as your paint. Dollar stores are a good source for this. I have found that nail polish actually works better than most paints and comes in a much larger variety of colors including metallic and glitter.

(3)  Once you have your colors picked out simply layer your design on the key. With some nail polish it is possible to get a stained-glass or enamel effect.

(Note; The brush that comes with the nail polish is big and bulky and may make getting fine detail difficult to impossible.) Use a fine tip paint brush to get detail. Just be sure to clean your brush after with nail polish remover.

(4) Once you have your key painted be sure and let it thoroughly dry. Preferably letting the key dry overnight. Then simply repeat the process on the other side of the key, to get both sides.

There you have it, a custom miniature piece of art on a key.  So go out and try different things and let us know how your artwork turned out. Be creative and inspire the world!

For this and other craft ideas checkout our other sites and be sure to subscribe.

www.nevadacrafter.com

http://craft44.blogspot.com/

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